EU Observers: Taliban Failed to Derail Elections

European Union monitors said on Monday that they can't predict who the winner of Saturday's election will be, but can say that the Taliban lost.

"We don't know who will win, but we know that the Taliban has lost," Member of European Parliament and EU Election Observation Mission Chairman, Thijs Berman, said. "Their threats to disrupt the elections with violence led to loss of lives of citizens, journalists, IEC staff, policemen and one international observer, but the violence did not deter Afghans from voting."

EU observers monitored voting in the provinces of Kabul, Mazar-e-Sharif, Kandahar and few other places throughout Afghanistan. The EU Election Observation Mission admired the Afghan people who participated on Election Day disregarding their safety.

Although, there were deficiencies during the election process because shortages of ballots and claims of riggings that the EU observers believe deprived many Afghans from voting. They added that the April 5 election is Afghanistan's greatest political achievements, but still raise concerns about the violations that were committed during the silent period and voting procedure.

Berman questioned how the IEC is supposed to plan accordingly when voter registration is not updated.

"There have been reports and observations on the lack of ballots in a few areas and the reason for it is still unknown," Berman said. "With so many voter cards out there and the absence of a comprehensive and updated voter registration, it's virtually impossible for the IEC to plan appropriately let alone anything close to reality."

The EU reiterated that the European countries are committed to work on transparency of the elections, stating that if the election goes into a second round they are prepared to monitor polls for the second time.