Afghan President, IEC Blamed for Mismanagement of Election Run-Off
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Spokesman of Afghan presidential hopeful Abdullah Abdullah accused incumbent President Hamid Karzai and the country’s Independent Election Commission (IEC) of turning a blind eye to what he called the mass fraud in the recent run-off election.
Speaking to the Tasnim News Agency in a telephone interview, Fazil Sangcharaki said large-scale fraud was committed during the presidential election run-off, held on June 14.
He said the IEC has not so far offered a satisfactory explanation of the “organized rigging” in the process of elections, and has refused to answer Abdullah’s questions about the alleged violations of law either.
Tensions have been running high in Afghanistan since the run-off between Abdullah and his rival Ashraf Ghani, a former World Bank economist.
Abdullah has announced he no longer trusts the electoral bodies and blames them and interference by President Karzai for mass fraud. He wants the electoral bodies to stop counting votes and has invited the United Nations to intervene.
The UN has said it needs to hear the details of any proposal, but is ready to support an "Afghan-led process".
Abdullah, a former leader of the opposition to the Taliban, came first in the largely peaceful first round of the polls to replace Karzai, winning 45 percent of the vote. Former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani had scored 31.6 percent.
