Baghdad, 14 October 2004 (RFE/RL) -- The UN-Afghan Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB) -- has issued its first rough estimate on voter turnout in the 9 October Afghan presidential election.
Reg Austin, chief technical adviser to the JEMB, said about 8 million Afghans, or 75-85 percent of registered voters, cast ballots.
The JEMB said the actual counting of ballots has yet to begin.
But Austin said the process -- auditing the number of ballots in ballot boxes, mixing ballots from various provinces to enhance secrecy, and sorting ballots into piles -- has started at regional counting centers in Kabul, Kunduz, and Kandahar provinces.
Five other regional counting centers around the country are expected to begin the process by 16 October.
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