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Both sides allege fraud in Afghan election
Associated Press - August 24, 2009
Kabul – The Afghan President's leading challenger accused him of using the Afghan state to rig this week's election and detailed allegations of cheating by government officials.
Abdullah Abdullah, once Hamid Karzai's foreign affairs minister, said he was in contact with other campaigns to explore the possibility of a coalition candidacy in case none of the 36 candidates won enough votes in last Thursday's ballot to avoid a run-off, probably in October.
The accusations, which Mr Karzai's spokesman denied, are the most direct Mr Abdullah has made against the incumbent in a contest that likely has weeks to go before a winner is proclaimed.
Mr Abdullah and Mr Karzai claim they are in the lead, based on reports from campaign pollwatchers. Officials of Mr Abdullah's campaign have alleged fraud in several southern provinces where the insurgency is strongest and Mr Karzai had been expected to run strong.
"He uses the state apparatus in order to rig an election," Mr Abdullah said.
He said it "doesn't make the slightest difference" whether Mr Karzai or his supporters ordered the alleged fraud. "All this happens under his eyes and under his leadership," Mr Abdullah said.
"This is under his leadership that all these things are happening, and all those people which are responsible for this fraud in parts of the country are appointed by him. And I'm sure he has all those reports, so he knows all of this. This should have been stopped and could have been stopped by him."
Mr Abdullah said Government officials in Kandahar and Ghazni provinces, including a provincial police chief and a No. 2 provincial election official, stuffed ballot boxes in Mr Karzai's favour in six districts. He also said his monitors were prevented from entering several voting sites.
Mr Karzai's campaign spokesman, Waheed Omar, dismissed the allegations and claimed the President's camp had submitted reports of fraud allegedly committed by Mr Abdullah's followers to the election complaint commission. He said losing candidates often claimed fraud to "try to justify their loss."
Election observers have said the voting process was mostly credible, but are cataloguing instances of fraud and violence.
US, United Nations and Afghan officials said they had not expected a fraud-free election, but hoped that cheating would be on a small enough scale that the vote was seen as credible. Preliminary results will not be released until Tuesday, and final certified results will not come until next month. If neither Mr Karzai or Mr Abdullah gets 50 per cent of the vote among a field of some three dozen candidates, then the two will go to a run-off.
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