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Afghan fraud ballots invalidated

Thursday, September 10, 2009

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Page last updated at 14:18 GMT, Thursday, 10 September 2009 15:18 UK

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by Nasra Ismail and Biodun Iginla, BBC

Nasra Ismail reported from Kabul The election has been dogged by allegations of irregularities and fraud The Afghan Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) has for the first time invalidated some ballots from the presidential election because of fraud. There was "clear and convincing evidence of fraud" in Paktika, Kandahar and Ghazni, areas that largely backed President Hamid Karzai, it said.
Earlier this week results from 600 stations where there were suspected irregularities were "quarantined".
Correspondents say that there could now be months of arguments about the vote.
Afghanistan's second direct presidential election on 20 August was marred by low turnout and widespread allegations of vote-rigging, intimidation and other fraud.
According to partial results, Mr Karzai has passed the 50% mark, which means he does not have to face a second round run-off.
However, the complaints commission does have the authority to order a recount or even to remove a candidate from the election.
If it throws out enough votes "cast" for Mr Karzai it could also effectively order a presidential run-off by reducing his share of the vote to under 50%.
'Miscounted ballots'
Announcing the commission's decision, a statement on the ECC website said that all ballots in five polling stations in Paktika were invalidated.
In Ghazni the ECC ordered that ballots cast in 27 stations be invalidated, while in Kandahar ballots in 51 polling station were invalidated.
Afghanistan's 25,450 polling stations had 600-700 ballot papers each.

Afghan poll: Main fraud allegations The ECC said in a statement that its investigations in Ghazni found "a number of indicators of fraud".
Those included unfolded ballots, votes for candidates inserted inside bundles for other candidates, miscounted ballots, missing material, uniformity of markings, seal numbers which did not match numbers on the record of seals and lists of voters with numerous fictitious card numbers, the statement said.
In Kandahar and Paktika the ECC said that "ballots were not legally cast, or were not legally counted".
The BBC's Chris Morris, in Kabul, says that although this is the first time any votes have been thrown out altogether there will be more to come.
A source at the ECC said this was just the start of a process, our correspondent says.
The organisation has received many complaints and has a large number of suspicious voting patterns to work through.
The whole process could take weeks or even months, some have suggested.
Fifteen of the polling stations invalidated by the ECC are in one Kandahar district from which the BBC reported widespread fraud allegations in the aftermath of the election, our correspondent reports.
Abdullah Abdullah argues that the vote has been 'stolen' The ECC's move follows complaints earlier on Thursday by Abdullah Abdullah, the main challenger in the election, who said that the count was being manipulated by President Karzai.
Speaking exclusively to the BBC, Mr Abdullah said the election commission was on the president's side.
A spokesman for Mr Karzai, Wahid Umar, told the BBC that any "interference" in the work of the election results would not help the final process.

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AFGHANISTAN ELECTION
KEY STORIES As it happened
Patchy turnout, amid violence and claims of fraud
Trials of election monitoring If I were president... Herat voters unswayed Polling day experiences BACKGROUND Defining moment Election security map Q&A: Afghan election Guide to main candidates Life in Afghanistan VIDEO AND AUDIO What Afghans think of the poll

Key moments from polling day

Attack as reporter travels to polling station

Nato claims poll security success

Inside a Kabul polling station
President Karzai casts vote
Voices of the electorate

RELATED INTERNET LINKS Afghan Electoral Complaints Commission Independent Electoral Commission The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites
FROM OTHER NEWS SITES The Age Votes at 83 Afghan poll sites 'invalid' - 41 mins ago AFP via Yahoo! Afghan vote commission orders ballots invalidated - 4 hrs ago ONE News Many Afghan ballots annulled by UN - 5 hrs ago Reuters Fraud watchdog annuls votes in Afghan election - 5 hrs ago CBC Ballots ordered excluded from Afghan tally - 9 hrs ago About these results

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