14 of the 15 challengers to Afghan election charge voter fraud!
 

Florida style democracy in action!

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapc...ons/index.html

KABUL, Afghanistan (CNN) -- The United Nations, which is helping to oversee the Afghan election, is in crisis talks with the country's presidential candidates to save the historic voting day, the country's first direct democratic election.

The balloting was thrown into turmoil Saturday when all but two of the candidates laid down charges of voter fraud and vowed to discount any election results. Polls have since closed.

Ink that does not stain spurred at least 14 of the 15 challengers to Afghan President Hamid Karzai to unite in a boycott of Saturday's election, charging that it was open to fraud because citizens could possibly vote several times.

Voting almost three years after the hard-line Taliban regime was ousted by a U.S.-led military campaign stalled at several polling stations when election officials realized ink used to mark voters' fingers could be washed off.

After about two hours of confusion, a new supply of ink was delivered to some polling stations and voting resumed.

But the damage had already been done: Rumors about the ink used to color the thumb prints of voters to avoid fraud spread as thousands of Afghans, including severla hundred women, waited in line to vote.

It was not known whether or not elections would need to be postponed for a new round of voting, but that is exactly what opposition presidential candidates are demanding.

"This is completely, completely prearranged fraud," declared Ahmed Shah Ahmadzai, a presidential candidate representing the party of a former warlord.

He emerged from a meeting with the other candidates insisting the election glitch required that voting be rescheduled.

He said 14 candidates were united in demanding a new election and insisted that they would not recognize or respect Saturday's voting.

If President Karzai refuses, Ahmadzai said, "we will tell them, 'go ahead and run this country.' "

He said all of the opposition candidates have taken an oath not to join a Karzai government unless there is a new vote.

At one large polling station in Kabul, hundreds of men and women stood in long lines that did not move, waiting for election officials to locate the proper ink intended to prevent multiple voting.

Many of them left in frustration to return to their homes or jobs. It appeared some were returning once the glitch was resolved.

A young man who cast a ballot before voting was stopped showed CNN how he used water to remove the ink stain from his left thumb. While his voting card was punched, also to prevent fraud, he said many other voters have more than one voter card.

"I have cast my vote, but the ink was removable," he said. "This is ridiculous."

Tens of thousands of national and international security forces have been deployed across the country to try to prevent any possible attacks on voters.

In a sign of the potential dangers, Mullah Omar, the former Taliban supreme leader, had warned Afghans Friday to boycott the election or face attacks at polling stations, a senior Taliban official told CNN.

"We are sending warning to people to refrain from voting as we have planned to organize attacks with full strength on polling stations," said the message, which was read on the radio by the Taliban's former defense minister.

"Voters will be responsible themselves if they come under Taliban attack."

Karzai favorite
There are 5,000 polling centers throughout Afghanistan, as well as in Afghan refugee camps in Pakistan and Iran, according to a fact sheet on the White House Web site.

There are 600,000 eligible voters in Iran and about 750,000 in Pakistan.

Among the 16 candidates, Karzai is favored to win in the voting, which was due to take place under the watchful eyes of hundreds of election observers.

The winning candidate must claim 50 percent of the total, plus one vote.

Only two other candidates are considered big names nationwide: the Uzbek general, Abdul Rashid Dostum, and the former education minister, Yunus Qanuni.

There is one female candidate in the race, Massouda Jalal, a doctor who has attracted much media attention but little following.

In June 2002, Karzai was elected to a two-year term by the loya jirga, or grand council, a traditional gathering of Afghanistan's tribal leaders to resolve issues of national importance.

He is from the majority Pashtuns, the traditional rulers of Afghanistan, but also the source of the Taliban's support.

The vote is seen as a key step in the post-September 11 U.S. effort to bring democracy to Afghanistan, where the Taliban was harboring leaders of the al Qaeda terror network.

"We expect to have a successful election on Saturday. We have taken all the measures necessary," Jerome Leyraud U.N. Afghan election manager, told CNN.

Leyraud said final results probably would not be available for two or three weeks. Karzai said he hoped the turnout would be at least 60 percent.

Ten million Afghans have registered, including Afghan citizens abroad and more than 40 percent of eligible women.

There were fears, however, that violence in the run-up to the election and threats from remnants of the Taliban and al Qaeda could derail its success.

Security concerns
Officials hope the Taliban and its allies will be thwarted by a security effort involving a national army of more than 17,000, about 25,000 police, 18,000 U.S.-led coalition troops and a NATO-led International Security Assistance Force of more than 8,000.

In addition, Ashraf Haidari, spokesman for the Afghanistan Embassy in Washington, said there will be 250 international observers at the eight regional counting centers.

Haidari also said there will be an unknown number of trained observers from the 125,000-member electoral staff and hundreds of overseers personally representing the candidates.

Soldiers foiled an attempt Friday to blow up a fuel truck near Kandahar.

They also seized rockets and RPGs in Kabul, and picked up two suspected suicide bombers in Jalalabad.

Karzai survived an attack last month, and, Wednesday, a convoy carrying his running mate was hit. Ahmad Zia Masood escaped unhurt from the roadside explosion that hit his convoy in Badakhshan province, a government official said. A dozen election workers have been killed.

Both the presidential and parliamentary polls were to be held last June but were delayed due to security and logistical concerns. Parliamentary elections were put off until next April because resources are overstretched.