EU verdict on Afghan poll faces objections
While the EU has praised Afghanistan for its conduct of last week's presidential election, Abdullah Abdullah, the main challenger to the country's incumbent president, said the poll had been rigged in favour of Hamid Karzai.
The official results of the vote held last Thursday are only to be released on 3 September, but the EU's chief election observer, Philippe Morillon, told journalists on Saturday (22 August) that while the poll could not be seen as entirely "free" due to widespread violence, it was "fair".
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"Generally what we have observed was considered by our observers with our methodology good and fair," said Mr Morillon, according to AFP.
"The European Union congratulates the people of Afghanistan on the holding of presidential and provincial elections under challenging circumstances, emphasising the need for a continued credible and inclusive process," the EU reacted in a statement.
However, it added that Europe "takes note with concern of reports of irregularities and fraud," pointing out that it is up to independent observers to investigate all suspicions.
For his part, Mr Abdullah, a former foreign minister, said on Sunday (23 August) that he had evidence that voter turnout had been significantly inflated in some areas where few ballots were cast, with the extra votes marked in favour of the incumbent president, Mr Karzai.
"The initial reports we are receiving are alarming," Mr Abdullah told Reuters news agency. "There might have been thousands of violations throughout the country. No doubt about it."
The allegations are due to be inspected by the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC), as part of the long evaluation process of the second presidential election in Afghanistan after the fall of Taliban. So far, the ECC had received more than 200 complaints about the electoral process.
ECC spokesman Grant Kippen said the commission was aware of "significant complaints" of irregularities, including voter intimidation, violence, ballot box tampering and interference by some Afghan election officials" but of no charges against individual candidates, BBC reported.
According to the EU Election Observation Mission to Afghanistan, the turn-out was "considerably higher in the north of the country and particularly low in the south" where the Taliban insurgents are historically strong but they have no precise figures.
Some monitors suggested the voter participation in the southern province of Kandahar could be as low as 10 percent.