Kabul: The outcry over alleged vote fraud
in Afghanistan`s election has escalated, with President Hamid
Karzai`s chief opponent charging that turnout figures were
padded and the chief fraud investigator saying some of the
allegations were serious enough to influence the outcome if
true.
The controversy threatens to discredit an election
that the Obama administration considers a key step in a new
strategy to turn back the Taliban insurgency.
It could also delay formation of a new government and
fuel growing doubts in the United States about whether its
worth continuing to fight the war in Afghanistan.
Millions of Afghans voted on Thursday in the country`s
second-ever direct Presidential election, although Taliban
threats and attacks appeared to hold down the turnout,
especially in the south where support for Karzai is strong.
Final certified results will not come until next
month although partial preliminary figures are expected
Tuesday. If none of the 36 candidates wins a majority, the top
two finishers will face a runoff in October.
Karzai`s top challenger, former foreign minister
Abdullah Abdullah, widened allegations of fraud against Karzai
and his government, saying ballots marked for the incumbent
were coming in from volatile southern districts where no vote
was held, and that turnout was being reported as 40 percent
in areas where only 10 percent of voters cast ballots.
"This is a sign or evidence of widespread rigging,``
said Abdullah, who draws his strength from the Tajik minority
in the north.
Abdullah said a border security commander in the Spin
Boldak district of southern Kandahar province, Gen Abdul
Raziq, used his house as a polling station and stuffed the
ballot box for Karzai.
Other polling sites were in border police posts that
Raziq controls, Abdullah said.
Another presidential candidate has displayed mangled
ballots that he said were cast for him in Spin Boldak and then
thrown out by election workers.
Raziq denied the charges, saying that everyone in Spin
Boldak voted in the appointed polling centres, which were
schools and mosques. He said he and his border police were
busy maintaining security and did nothing to tamper with the
process.
"They are just spreading propaganda, the people who
are saying there was fraud," Raziq said. "If there is any
proof of it, please show me."
Abdullah said he hoped fraud would be prevented
through legal appeals with the electoral complaints
commission. But he also said he had no faith in the Chief of
the Afghan Independent Election Commission, a Karzai
appointee.
Bureau Report
