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
Afghan watchdog alters vote recount after criticism
Wed Oct 7, 2009 7:25am EDT
Email | Print |
Share
| Reprints | Single Page
[-]
Text
[+]
By Peter Graff
KABUL (Reuters) - The U.N.-backed watchdog overseeing a fraud investigation in Afghanistan's August 20 vote altered its ballot-counting rules Wednesday, ditching a plan criticized for favoring President Hamid Karzai.
The new recount rules, which watchdog officials said were a "clarification," take into account the possibility one candidate may have disproportionately benefitted from fraud, a finding that would be necessary in order for Karzai to be forced to face a second round.
The Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC), mainly appointed by the United Nations, has ordered a recount of ballot boxes it deemed suspicious -- around 12 percent of the total -- after finding "clear and convincing evidence of fraud."
To speed it up, officials are sampling 10 percent of those suspicious boxes.
Preliminary results gave Karzai 54.6 percent of the vote. If the fraud investigation reduces his share below 50 percent, he would face a run-off against his main challenger, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah.
For that to happen, the commission would have to find fraud overwhelmingly benefitted Karzai, which the president denies.
Under rules the ECC announced Monday, such a finding would have been unlikely, because the commission said it would eliminate the same percentage of votes for all candidates from groups of ballots that were suspicious for the same reason.
Wednesday, it issued new guidelines, which specify a separate percentage of fraudulent ballots would be calculated for each candidate, so candidates who benefitted more from fraud would face a greater penalty.
Diplomats say about 75 percent of the ballots in the suspicious group were cast for Karzai. Karzai's opponents say his share of the fraud may have been far greater, because most of the fraud took place in the south, where he won overwhelming support.
Under Monday's rules, more than 1 million ballots could be found to be fraudulent and Karzai would still win in a single round. Under the revised rules, Karzai could potentially face a second round if as few as 520,000 votes are disqualified.
KARZAI SAYS FRAUD EXAGGERATED
Karzai says the extent of fraud has been exaggerated by some Western officials and media. Officials expect the final outcome next week, with a second round at the end of October if needed.
ECC officials said the new rules amounted to a "clarification" of Monday's order, rather than a change. ECC official Scott Borden said the intent was always to calculate separate percentages for each candidate.
However, Borden and several other ECC officials, including the body's head, Grant Kippen, had told Reuters Monday the same percentage would be applied to each candidate.
Asked by Reuters on Monday: "You are going to apply the same percentage to all of them, that's what you said today?," Kippen nodded and said: "Yep." Continued...
View article on single page
Share:
Del.icio.us
Digg
Mixx
Yahoo!
Facebook
LinkedIn
Next Article:
Saudi king in Damascus to mend fences with Assad
analysis
Searching for roots of violence in teen's murder
Much soul-searching and speechmaking has followed the videotaped beating death two weeks ago of a Chicago honor student that has been viewed around the world on the melancholy Internet. Full Article
More International News
Afghan Taliban say they pose no threat to the West
Iran says some countries offer it nuclear fuel
Honduras de facto ruler to meet opponents
Turkey expects to seal deal with Armenia on October 10
Turkish protesters, police clash at IMF meeting
| Video
More International News...
More News
New Afghan vote rules may ensure Karzai victory
Monday, 5 Oct 2009 09:54am EDT
Editor's Choice
Slideshow
A selection of our best photos from the past 24 hours. Slideshow
Most Popular on Reuters
Articles
Video
Wealth management due for $10 trillion shift: BlackRock exec
Afghan Taliban say they pose no threat to the West
Hacker leaks thousands of Hotmail passwords, says site
Searching for roots of U.S. violence in teen's murder
Italian scientist reproduces Shroud of Turin
Iran says some countries offer it nuclear fuel
FACTBOX: Nobel chemistry prize - Who are the winners?
Wall Street edges lower ahead of earnings season | Video
U.S. flu vaccination off to slow start, CDC says
Google, Microsoft, Palm rev up smartphone race
Most Popular Articles RSS Feed
Video
U.S. Treasury weighs Iran sanctions
Switzerland denies Polanski bail
Japan's next-gen green cars
U.S. scientist wins Nobel Physics
Introducing the border "patrolbot"
No Obama - Dalai Lama meeting ...yet
Getting by week after Sumatra quake
Treasury: Iran could face sanctions
Typhoon nears Japan's main islands
Rwandan genocide suspect arrested
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.