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| Afghanistan |
| Observers Announce Runoff Findings |
| 2014-06-17 |
| [Tolo News] Election observers from the European Union ...the successor to the Holy Roman Empire, only without the Hapsburgs and the nifty uniforms and the dancing... (EU) and the Free and Fair Elections Foundation of Afghanistan (FEFA) held a joint presser in Kabul on Monday where they released their preliminary reports on fraud in the presidential runoff election. While the EU delegation reported no fraud from the sites its monitors were located at on Saturday, the Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan (FEFA), one of the country's largest monitoring groups, said its observers documented a large amount of fraud across various regions. Thijis Berman, the head of the EU's delegation, corroborated the Independent Election Commission's (IEC) claims that Saturday's vote saw a higher turnout than the first round, pointing out that the actual voting process was much easier than the one in April because voters only had to choose between two candidates and there was no Provincial Council ballot. The IEC on Saturday night said over seven million voters participated in the runoff, despite most experts originally estimating the number to be significantly lower than the first round. The senior EU observer emphasized that his delegation documented no fraud on Election Day, and praised Afghan voters for their participation. "Anyone who tries to change the results by illegal means, by violence or by fraud, shows nothing but a shocking contempt of all the thousands of Afghan citizens who have cast their votes honestly and courageously," Berman said on Monday. |
| Posted by:Fred |