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UN to Sack Half of Afghan Election Officials

Ban Ki-Moon plans measures to ensure widespread fraud isn't repeated

By Rob Quinn, Newser Staff

Posted Oct 21, 2009 8:00 AM CDT

(Newser) – The United Nations learned "quite a painful lesson" from the widespread fraud in Afghanistan's August election, and aims to rout out corrupt voting supervisors next time around, Ban Ki-Moon said yesterday. The UN secretary-general said more than half of the election officials should be removed before next month's runoff election "to ensure a fair and transparent process," the BBC reports. UN officials aim to visit every polling station during the November 7 vote.

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A voter tries hard to locate the candidate of her choice at a polling booth in Herat, Afghanistan, in August. (AP Photo/Fraidoon Pooyaa)

Ballot boxes sit outside the election commission office in Kandahar province south of Kabul in August. (AP Photo/Allauddin Khan)

Afghan presidential candidate and current President Hamid Karzai walks toward a polling booth before casting his vote at a polling station in Kabul, Afghanistan, in August. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

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We have made it clear to the Afghan government, and we made it clear to the Security Council, that there was fraud we wanted to rectify. - UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon

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UN to Sack Half of Afghan Election Officials