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| Afghanistan |
| UN Envoy Supports Election Fraud Probe |
| 2009-08-26 |
| [Quqnoos] The UN special envoy urged Afghan Electoral Complaint Commission on Monday to seriously investigate the challenges being raised Special envoy Eide urged all Afghan candidates and their supporters to be patient, so that the ECC can carry out its work and make decisions on the complaints submitted to the commission. Mr Eide's visit to the ECC headquarters in Kabul was intended to see how the commission was dealing with the complaints filed by candidates and voters after the historic 20 August elections. "I am here to see how the ECC is planning its proceedings," he told journalists, after meeting with some of the ECC commissioners. Eide said there was no doubt that irregularities had taken place and stressed it was critical to the whole electoral process that the ECC detect and address fraud. Mr Eide visited the electoral complaint commission as many presidential candidates, including Abdullah Abdullah, a leading challenger of President Karzai, accused the incumbent of 'rigging' Thursday's election. However, Abdullah Abdullah said that he would challenge alleged fraud only through legal channels, rather than calling his supporters out in protest. So far, the commission says it has received 790 complaints from across the country, including 54 classified as "Priority-A", which, if proved, could have an impact on the result. "I say to candidates, campaigners, voters, and media, that you must respect this process. This is a critical part of it. Respect also means demonstrating patience," he added. |
| Posted by:Fred |