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| Afghanistan |
| Afghan election candidate set to reject result |
| 2014-07-07 |
| [Al Ahram] Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah ... the former foreign minister of the Northern Alliance government, advisor to Masood, and candidate for president against Karzai. Dr. Abdullah was born in Kabul and is half Tadjik and half Pashtun... was set to reject preliminary election results released Monday, heightening a political crisis over fraud that threatens to trigger instability as US-led troops pull out. Abdullah, previously seen as the election front-runner, alleges that he was the victim of "industrial-scale" ballot-box stuffing on June 14 and has vowed not to recognise the vote count. His poll rival Ashraf Ghani, who was reported to be at least one million votes ahead, says the result is fair and must not be further delayed. The United Nations ...boodling on the grand scale... and Afghanistan's international backers had lobbied hard to try to ensure a smooth election process, but the contested outcome will realise their worst fears and raises the risk of civil unrest. Influential US Senator Carl Levin ...Democrat Senator-for-Life from Michigan. He has been in the Senate since 1979. Prior to that he was president of the Detroit city council and Mayor Coleman Young's right-hand man. He is currently the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Armed Services... , on a visit to Kabul, told news hounds on Sunday that the preliminary result would likely be followed by an audit of suspicious votes in an attempt to assuage Abdullah's fears of fraud. "I expect that (there) is going to be an agreement on a comprehensive audit," Levin, chairman of the Senate committee on armed services, said. |
| Posted by:Fred |