Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They
AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e
BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German
Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who
By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an
My Profile
Top News
Reuters top ten news stories delivered to your inbox each day.
Subscribe
You are here:
Home
>
News
>
International
>
Article
Home
Business & Finance
News
U.S.
Politics
International
Technology
Entertainment
Sports
Lifestyle
Oddly Enough
Health
Science
Special Coverage
Video
Pictures
Your View
The Great Debate
Blogs
Weather
Reader Feedback
Do More With Reuters
RSS
Widgets
Mobile
Podcasts
Newsletters
Your View
Make Reuters My Homepage
Partner Services
CareerBuilder
Affiliate Network
Professional Products
Support (Customer Zone)
Reuters Media
Financial Products
About Thomson Reuters
1.1 million votes for Afghan leader suspicious: EU
Wed Sep 16, 2009 10:59am EDT
Email | Print |
Share
| Reprints | Single Page
[-]
Text
[+]
By Golnar Motevalli
KABUL (Reuters) - As many as a third of votes cast for Afghan incumbent Hamid Karzai in last month's presidential election are suspect and must be checked for fraud, the head of a European Union election observer mission said on Wednesday.
The announcement by the largest foreign observer team in Afghanistan suggesting fraud on a massive scale came hours before authorities were due to issue a preliminary final tally expected to show Karzai with enough votes to win in a single round.
The fraud accusations have come at a particularly difficult time for U.S. President Barack Obama, who has already ordered thousands of additional troops to Afghanistan and is expected to make a decision in coming weeks about whether to send more.
The war is already becoming increasingly unpopular at home, and Obama may find it more difficult to persuade Americans to send soldiers to die to defend a government whose legitimacy could be called into question.
The preliminary final result can still be overturned by a separate body, the U.N.-backed Electoral Complaints Commission, which has already ordered a recount of 10 percent of polling stations after finding "clear and convincing evidence of fraud."
Phillippe Morillon, head of the EU observer team, told Reuters his team believed 1.5 million votes were suspicious, including 1.1 million cast for Karzai and 300,000 cast for his main rival, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah.
In near-complete figures issued last week, Karzai had slightly more than 3 million votes, or 54.3 percent of the 5.54 million valid votes counted.
"UNSCRUPULOUS"
Were all the votes described by Morillon as "suspicious" to be removed from that preliminary tally, Karzai would fall just short of the 50 percent needed to win in a single round, and would instead face a run-off against Abdullah.
Morillon said fraud had been carried out by "unscrupulous, overzealous supporters ... from every camp," and that fraudulent ballots needed to be removed from the count before any result could be considered final.
"Any claim for any count or of victory will be premature and not credible," he said.
Four weeks after the election, Afghanistan remains mired in political limbo, with results trickling out as fraud accusations mounted, undermining faith in the vote both in Afghanistan and among Western nations with troops fighting there.
The U.N.-backed ECC must sign off on any final result, and its fraud probe could potentially force a second round if it invalidates enough ballots to put Karzai below the 50 percent threshold needed to win in a single round and avoid a run-off.
The recount process has only just begun and could take weeks or even months.
A second round, if needed, would have to be held within two weeks of the final result being declared, although there has been some concern that this could be difficult if it is delayed into winter when travel is difficult in Afghanistan. Continued...
View article on single page
Share:
Del.icio.us
Digg
Mixx
Yahoo!
Facebook
LinkedIn
Next Article:
Chinese envoy holds talks in North Korea
Also On Reuters
Italy finds wreck of toxic waste ship sunk by mafia
Secretive spending on U.S. intelligence disclosed
Facebook makes money, tops 300 million users
More International News
New Japan PM pushes big changes
| Video
Chinese envoy holds talks in North Korea
Bomber kills herself, injures six in Russia's Chechnya
Hariri to try forming Lebanon government again
EU's Barroso wins strong mandate for new term
More International News...
Related News
Karzai camp calls EU vote fraud claim irresponsible
9:35am EDT
Karzai camp says confident in Afghan vote victory
10:59am EDT
Featured Broker sponsored link
Editor's Choice
Slideshow
A selection of our best photos from the past 24 hours. Slideshow
Most Popular on Reuters
Articles
Video
UPDATE 2-Citi shares down on concerns of US government sale
Citi shares could, finally, see solid demand
Universal's Harry Potter park to include Hogwarts
Facebook makes money, tops 300 million users
Rockefeller & Co CEO dies in apparent suicide
Your shower may be blasting you with germs: study
Uninsured Americans hope reform brings health coverage
Clinton: U.S. worried by Venezuelan arms purchases
City advertises porn on website by accident
West apologizes to Swift, Obama weighs in on furor
Most Popular Articles RSS Feed
Video
Bernanke: recession likely over
US House reprimands GOP lawmaker
Bernanke's trial by crisis
U.S. clears H1N1 vaccine
Hollywood actor Patrick Swayze dies
Japan's new government
Lessons from Lehman
Anger of Lehman-stung investors
Talk of the Town
Obama visits hard-hit Ohio
Most Popular Videos RSS Feed
Reuters.com:
Help and Contact Us |
Advertise With Us |
Mobile |
Newsletters |
RSS |
Labs |
Journalism Handbook |
Archive |
Site Index |
Video Index
Thomson Reuters Corporate:
Copyright |
Disclaimer |
Privacy |
Professional Products |
Professional Products Support |
About Thomson Reuters |
Careers
International Editions:
Africa |
Arabic |
Argentina |
Brazil |
Canada |
China |
France |
Germany |
India |
Italy |
Japan |
Latin America |
Mexico |
Russia |
Spain |
United Kingdom |
United States
Thomson Reuters is the world's largest international multimedia news agency, providing investing news, world news, business news, technology news, headline news, small business news, news alerts, personal finance, stock market, and mutual funds information available on Reuters.com, video, mobile, and interactive television platforms. Thomson Reuters journalists are subject to an Editorial Handbook which requires fair presentation and disclosure of relevant interests.
NYSE and AMEX quotes delayed by at least 20 minutes. Nasdaq delayed by at least 15 minutes. For a complete list of exchanges and delays, please click here.