More than 4,000 formal complaints have been submitted about Afghanistan's parliamentary poll, the election watchdog said on Sunday, with more than half of those able to affect the final results. Ahmad Zia Rafat, a commissioner on the UN-backed Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) said 175 candidates out of a total of around 2,500 had been accused of fraud.
Afghanistan's September 18 poll went ahead despite a Taliban threat to disrupt the vote, but Western nations have been wary of dubbing the election a success after the fiasco of last year's fraud-marred presidential ballot.
The credibility of the Afghan vote will weigh heavily on US President Barack Obama ahead of mid-term Congressional elections next month and as his administration prepares for a review of its Afghan policy amid sagging public support for the war.
"Out of those candidates accused of fraud, 25 are current members of parliament," Rafat said. "If the accusations of fraud against the candidates are proven, their votes will be nullified and they will be presented to the courts."
As of Saturday, a total of 4,169 complaints had been lodged with the ECC, Rafat said, adding around 55 percent of those were categorised serious enough to be able to affect the final outcome if upheld by the commission.
More than 40 percent of complaints received relate to polling irregularities, the ECC said, and some 17 percent to violence or intimidation. Other complaints include problems in accessing polling sites and counting irregularities.
Preliminary results were due to be released last Saturday but the election body last week pushed that date back until mid-October to allow more time for verifications and recounts amid the fraud allegations.
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