US scrambles to rescue Afghanistan vote
July 9, 2014, 5:47 am

A preliminary tally from the independent electoral commission revealed that Ghani, center, was leading Abdullah by one million votes. Abdullah has alleged electoral fraud [Xinhua]

His rival, Abdullah Abdullah, alleged electoral fraud and threatened to walk out of the political process and form his own government.

Abdullah, a former commander in the now defunct Northern Alliance and a former foreign minister in the years after the 2001 US invasion, led with 44.4 per cent of the vote compared to 33 per cent for Ghani in the first round of elections in April.

Another candidate, Zalmai Rassoul, came in third place. None of the candidates where able to reach 50 per cent + 1, prompting a runoff June 15.

James F. Dobbins, the special envoy to Afghanistan, told US media that Washington had urged the commission not to announce the results of the vote before launching an extensive audit.

Following an angry statement from Abdullah, the commission said it would delay a final tally until it determined which ballots were fraudulent and then invalidating them.

“We denounce and do not accept the results of the fraudulent vote. I assure you people of Afghanistan that I will sacrifice for you, but I will never accept a fraudulent government.We announce that only the government elected through clean votes will come to power,” Abdullah warned on Monday.

For his part Ghani agreed late on Tuesday to the auditing of more than 7,000 polling stations – some three million of the cast votes.

The alleged discrepancies have marred an otherwise fair election process, according to international observers and organizations which monitored the vote.

Nearly seven million people, almost 60 per cent of eligible voters, voted in the runoff presidential election.

In June, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon commended the performance of the Afghan security forces and said the next step in the democratic process fell on those involved in supporting the conduct of the vote, including the Independent Electoral Commission and thousands of Afghan observers.

Source: Agencies