Kabul: The United Nations special representative in Afghanistan said today allegations he had tried to conceal evidence of fraud in the country's
controversial presidential election were "patently false".
Kai Eide has been accused in recent weeks by his sacked
deputy, Peter Galbraith, of withholding UN evidence of massive
ballot-stuffing in the August 20 elections.
The election is still unresolved after almost two months
and electoral officials are currently auditing suspicious
votes in hope of reaching a final result by end of next week.
Accusations that the UN had "covered up or that I asked
for fraud to be covered up are patently false", Eide said in a
statement.
"I intend to deal openly with all these allegations
against the UN and myself relating to fraud and bias at the
appropriate time," he added.
Most of the fraud allegations have been directed against
incumbent Hamid Karzai, including findings by European Union
observers that a quarter of all votes, or 1.5 million, were
suspicious.
Observers -- including Galbraith who was sacked last
month after rowing with Eide over how to deal with the fraud
allegations -- have said 30 per cent of Karzai's votes were
fraudulent.
The Washington Post said yesterday it had obtained secret
UN documents showing evidence of massive ballot stuffing and
substantial discrepancies in the election, with vote counts in
some provinces exceeding actual voters by more than 100,000.
Bureau Report
First Published: Thursday, October 08, 2009, 22:08