A UN-backed fraud watchdog investigating last month's presidential election in Afghanistan began invalidating votes on Thursday in a process that could keep the country locked in political uncertainty for months. The August 20 election has alarmed the West whose troops are involved in an increasingly unpopular military mission.
-- Complete preliminary results due on Saturday
President Hamid Karzai, on course to win in a single round unless the fraud watchdog overturns the outcome, has defended the vote as honest. Preliminary results gave Karzai 54 percent of valid votes tallied this week - enough to avoid a runoff with his closest rival, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah. An Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC), appointed mainly by the United Nations, can veto the tally and has said it has found evidence of fraud. It ordered a partial vote recount this week.
In a statement on Thursday, the ECC said it had already invalidated all ballots at 17 polling stations in Ghazni province south-west of the capital Kabul - its first step in a complicated process that officials have said could last weeks, if not months.
"Investigation and subsequent decisions were taken in response to complaints received by the ECC during the polling and counting period," said the commission, run by a Canadian. It added that it had found a number of "indicators of fraud" such as unfolded and miscounted ballots, votes for candidates inserted inside bundles for other candidates, and lists of voters with numerous fictitious card numbers.
It did not say how many votes it has invalidated in total so far. Based on preliminary results released so far with 91 percent of polling stations tallied, more than 400,000 ballots for Karzai would have to be annulled to require a second round. The process has galvanised Abdullah and his supporters who have condemned the election as rigged.
"I'm not talking about just my own supporters, but those who cast their vote for Mr Karzai," Abdullah told BBC radio. "Their vote is now part of the fraud. And on top of that, a fraudulent outcome: illegitimate rule for another five years. "I think this in itself is a recipe for instability in this country," he added.
Despite these allegations, Karzai has praised officials for carrying out the election with "honesty and impartiality". Complete preliminary results are expected on Saturday, a spokesman for the election commission said. The ECC has now ordered a recount from polling stations where one candidate received more than 95 percent of the vote or more votes were cast than the expected maximum of 600.
"Unless the 'clear and convincing evidence of fraud' found by the ECC is addressed, it will be impossible to determine the will of the Afghan people," the National Democratic Institute, a US non-profit group which monitored the poll said in a statement.