Karzai Stole Afghanistan Election: Rival

Afghan president's campaign allegedly detained tribal leader, closed polls

(NEWSER) - Tribal leaders in southern Afghanistan make the strongest allegations yet of ballot fraud, telling Dexter Filkins of the New York Times that in their district, "Hamid Karzai's people stuffed all the ballot boxes." Members of the Bariz tribe, who endorsed challenger Abdullah Abdullah, say aides to Karzai's brother—himself a hugely powerful provincial leader nicknamed "King of the South"—detained the district's governor on election day and closed all the polling places. They then shipped 23,900 ballots to Kabul, every single one a vote for Karzai. More»

(NEWSER) - The supposedly indelible ink used to mark voters' fingers in today's Afghanistan election rubs off easily with household detergent, raising fears of widespread ballot fraud. Campaigners for Abdullah Abdullah, the main opposition candidate, found they could remove the ink with minimal effort, and a Guardian journalist scrubbed his finger clean in a matter of minutes. It could spell a big problem: As many as 3 million counterfeit voting cards are in circulation in Afghanistan. More»

Widespread fraud reported in nearly a third of provinces

(NEWSER) - From stuffing ballot boxes to arresting election workers to, incredibly, haggling over the sales price of a vote, Afghanistan's election is so rife with corruption and fraud that the results are questionable in one-third of its provinces, reports the New York Times. And as a test of Afghanistan's nascent democracy, “From an overall democracy-building perspective it does not look rosy,” says one anonymous diplomat. More»

Cites Karzai's refusal to reform election system

(NEWSER) - The only contender to unseat Afghan President Hamid Karzai today followed through on his threat to boycott the runoff election slated for Nov. 7. Citing Karzai's refusal to overhaul the election system as impetus for his decision, Abdullah Abdullah declared a “transparent election is not possible” at a news conference—handing Karzai a second five-year term and potentially tossing the fragile country into an uproar. More»

But spokesman leaves room for late maneuvering

(AP) - Afghan presidential challenger Abdullah Abdullah plans to boycott next week's runoff against Hamid Karzai and instead call for postponement of the vote until the spring, his campaign manager said today. "As of now," Abdullah plans to call for a boycott during a press conference tomorrow, he said. Abdullah also plans to call for an interim government to run the country until a new, fair vote can be held. More»