1/4 of Afghan Votes May be Fraudulent
The New York Times reports:
KABUL, Afghanistan — Although the preliminary results of the Sept. 18 parliamentary elections, expected to be announced Sunday, were postponed, interviews with Afghan and Western officials indicate that fraud was pervasive and that nearly 25 percent of the votes are likely to be thrown out.
The fraud, which included ballot-box stuffing, citizens forced to cast their votes at gunpoint, corrupt election officials and security forces complicit with corrupt candidates, is expected to mean that 800,000 to a million votes will be nullified, according to two Western officials who are following the election closely.
The Afghan Independent Election Commission, which oversees the counting, has refused to disclose the number of votes that could be thrown out, but said in a statement that it had decided to nullify wholly or partially the votes cast at 430 polling places, and that votes at another 830 sites were being audited, suggesting substantial problems.
Until now the commission has been praised for endeavoring to run an honest vote-counting process, but the delay at the last minute, as hundreds of candidates have thronged to the capital, Kabul, clamoring to know the results, has raised questions.
In an e-mailed statement released just two hours before a planned news conference to announce the results, the commission said it would make the announcement on Wednesday. “The reason for the delay in results is to be more accurate and precise,” the announcement said.
People close to the commission said that at least 89 percent of the votes had been counted and sifted for fraud in all provinces, but that in the majority, a few votes remained to be counted and commission members wanted to wait until the count was complete.
Afghan and Western observers said, however, that they were worried that the commission was coming under enormous political pressure to change the outcome, especially for a handful of powerful figures.
“You can do a lot of mischief in three days,” said a Western observer knowledgeable about the election process.
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