Ballots from 10% of polling stations in Afghanistan's presidential vote need to be recounted because of indications of fraud, a top election official says.
Ballots from 10% of polling stations in Afghanistan's presidential vote need to be recounted because of indications of fraud, a top election official says.About 2,500 polling stations across the country were affected, Grant Kippen of the UN-backed Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) said.
His comments come amid reports of serious tensions within the UN mission over the issue of electoral fraud. A substantive vote recount could force incumbent Hamid Karzai into a run-off. With 95% of the vote counted, Mr Karzai had a 54% share, electoral officials said on Saturday.
But if fraud investigations cause this figure to drop below 50%, he and closest challenger Abdullah Abdullah, who has 28% of the vote, would have to go to a second-round vote. Afghanistan's second direct presidential election on 20 August was marred by widespread claims of vote-rigging and intimidation.
The ECC last week ordered Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission to identify stations reporting 100% turn-out or where one candidate received more than 95% of the vote in order for recounts to be carried out.
"About 2,500 plus polling stations are affected by the order and all provinces are affected," ECC Chairman Grant Kippen told AFP news agency. Last week the ECC invalidated ballots from dozens of polling stations in the three provinces of Paktika, Kandahar and Ghazni.
Correspondents say that investigations into possible fraud could take weeks, if not months. No official announcement on who has won the election can be made until those investigations are complete. Mr Kippen's remarks come amid reports of deep divisions among UN diplomats in Kabul over how to proceed in the wake of the election.
The Times reports that the head of the UN mission, Kai Eide, ordered US representative Peter Galbraith out of Afghanistan after the two reportedly disagreed over the extent to which vote recounts were necessary.
A wholesale recount as advocated by Mr Galbraith would be likely to ensure a second round run-off was held, the newspaper reported. But Mr Eide feared such a run-off could be delayed until May, potentially leaving Afghanistan in political limbo, The Times said. There has been no formal comment from the UN mission.
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