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Afghanistan: EU observers say 1.5 million 'suspicious' ballots
Adnkronos International - September 16, 2009
Kabul – Election observers from the European Union believe up to 1.5 million votes – or one third of the total – cast in Afghanistan's recent elections could be fraudulent.
The deputy head of the EU Election Observation Mission to Afghanistan, Dimitra Ioannou, said on Wednesday that 1.1 million votes in support of the incumbent Hamid Karzai were suspicious.
Ioannou said there had also been 300,000 questionable votes for his main rival Abdullah Abdullah, and 92,000 for another candidate, Ramazan Bashardost.
EU observers did not give an estimate of voter turnout, but it is believed to have been low amid intensifying conflict between the Taliban and the western-backed government.
The 20 August election has been rife with charges of fraud. More than 200,000 votes have already been thrown out, including 29,000 votes in areas of Afghanistan where Karzai reportedly has strong support – the southern provinces of Paktika, Ghazni and Kandahar provinces.
The EU's concern came after a senior diplomat at the United Nations mission in Afghanistan was ordered out of the country last week after an internal row with over how to respond to last month's presidential elections.
At least a dozen UN senior staff are backing the American, Peter Galbraith, in his dispute with his Norwegian superior, Kai Eide.
Galbraith wants the Independent Election Commission to annul results from 1,000 of the total of about 6,500 polling stations and to recount results from another 5,000, while Eide, a former UN envoy in Bosnia, is reportedly seeking a face-saving recount of some 1,000 polling places, sources said.
Independent analysts have said that, based on the count so far, voter turnout could be around 30 to 35 percent, not much higher than six million out of an estimated total of 17 million.
Karzai is so far leading the vote count with 54.3 percent, ahead of his main rival Abdullah who had 28.1 per cent, based on votes counted from 92 percent of polling stations.
Preliminary results were released on Wednesday, nearly a month after the election, although the final declaration of a winner will not be known for some weeks or even months, according to some observers.
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