Karzai’s vote lead narrows slightly
AFGHNISTAN: President Hamid Karzai’s lead over his main election
rival narrowed slightly on Monday as US envoy Richard Holbrooke said
Western troops had inflicted “vast damage” on the Taliban.
Holbrooke’s comments struck a rare optimistic note at the same time
as the US and NATO commander in Afghanistan submitted a review of the
eight-year war, calling for a revised strategy to reverse the “serious”
situation.
Afghan officials have announced results from nearly half the polling
stations used in the country’s second direct presidential vote, which
has been tainted by an escalating Taliban insurgency and abysmal
turnout.
Out of 2.87 million valid votes released by the Independent Election
Commission (IEC), which has been criticised for favouring the incumbent,
Karzai won 1.3 million and former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah
954,256.
The IEC website put Karzai on 45.8 percent so far and Abdullah on
33.2 percent, narrowly lowering Karzai’s previous percentage of 46.2 and
boosting Abdullah’s from 31.4. Karzai needs 50 percent plus one vote to
avoid a second round.
The gradual release of results is due to lead to the announcement of
preliminary results between September 3 and September 7, and the final
tally on September 17.
But complaints of fraud have flooded in daily to Afghanistan’s
Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC), which is scrambling to
investigate more than 2,500 allegations surrounding the August 20
elections.
The complaints threaten to compromise the legitimacy of the results
and any victory for Karzai, whose seven-year rule has been marred by
corruption, rising insecurity and cooling ties with his Western allies.
Kabul, Tuesday, AFP
|