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| Afghanistan |
| Karzai Defends 'Disputed' Afghan Elections |
| 2009-09-11 |
| [Quqnoos] Incumbent Karzai defended last month's Afghan election a day after a partial vote count placed him in the lead with 54 per cent of votes Preliminary election results issued on Tuesday gave Karzai more than 54 percent of valid votes tallied, putting him above the 50 percent threshold needed to avoid a runoff with his closest rival, Abdullah Abdullah. But the independent Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) said it had found "clear and convincing" evidence of fraud and ordered a partial recount. "The president praised the election officials for holding the election with honesty and impartiality despite all the difficulties," according to a presidential palace statement. Abdullah says Karzai's backers have attempted to steal the August 20 election by stuffing ballots on a massive scale. The ex-Foreign Minister, Abdullah has warned to not accept the outcome if the country's Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) fails to meet the fraud allegations. The Afghan Independent Election Commission announced on Tuesday that Karzai has collected 2,959,093 votes and Abdullah earned 1,546,490 votes out of the 91.6 per cent of polling stations tallied over the past three weeks. Other candidates trailing the two key challengers are Ramazan Bashardost with 505,347 votes and Dr Ashraf Ghani with 147,761. The final certified outcome is expected to be announced next week. |
| Posted by:Fred |