Afghan election descends into war of numbers

AFGHANISTAN: A week after Afghanistan's parliamentary poll, election officials are under intense pressure over the credibility of the vote as figures show polling day was much more violent than last year's presidential election.

Figures released by the Independent Election Commission (IEC), which organised the election and is overseeing the count, seemed aimed at making it appear more successful than it probably was, observers said.

The IEC's turnout figure had discounted thousands of people who were unable to vote because Taliban threats kept more than 1,000 polling centres shut, said Martine van Bijlert, of the Afghanistan Analysts' Network think tank.

Referring to an IEC statement that 4.3 million people voted, she said: "Even the actual numbers don't represent a turnout figure. They just tell us how many ballots have been used, they don't tell us how many people went out to vote."

Afghan and international news reports have detailed eyewitness accounts of intimidation, ballot stuffing and other irregularities that have the potential to alter the final results.

Violence - initially played down by the Afghan government and its supporters in the international community - was one-third higher than during last year's presidential poll, NATO's latest figures show.

Afghans went to the polls on September 18 for the country's second parliamentary election since the Taliban regime was overthrown in a US-led invasion in late 2001.

More than 2,500 candidates stood for 249 seats in the lower house of parliament, the Wolesi Jirga, with final results expected on October 31.

Kabul, Sunday, AFP