Kabul, September 10: The U.N.-backed commission investigating fraud in Afghanistan’s election issued its first orders Thursday to exclude some ballots from the final tally.
The Aug. 20 poll has been increasingly marred by reports of ballot-box stuffing and suspicious tallies. A U.S. monitoring group has said “large numbers of polling stations” had more than 100 percent turnout and President Hamid Karzai’s top challenger has accused him of “state-engineered” fraud.
All ballots from five polling stations in Paktika province should be voided because they show clear evidence of fraud, the Electoral Complaints Commission said in a statement. This is a more severe step than ordering a recount, in which the votes could eventually be included.
Decisions by the commission are final under Afghanistan’s electoral law. The group is releasing decisions from each province as investigations finish.
The group previously ordered an audit and recount countrywide of stations where turnout was at or above 100 percent, or where one candidate won more than 95 percent of the vote.
–Agencies