, AFP, 28 October 2010

EXCERPT: "An Afghan election watchdog has registered almost 6,000 complaints following last month's parliamentary poll, around half of which could affect the final results, an official said Thursday. The Independent Election Commission (IEC) has already thrown out 1.3 million votes amid concerns about fraud in the September 18 poll, the second of its kind since the overthrow of the Taliban in 2001. The cancelled votes account for more than 23 percent of the ballots cast. Ahmad Zia Rafaat, a spokesman for the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) a UN-backed election watchdog, said his organisation received nearly 6,000 complaints about irregularities and fraud since voting day. 'From the election day to date we have received 5,971 complaints,' Rafaat told reporters, putting around 2,500 of the complaints in the most serious category of potential irregularities known as 'group A'. He said 70 percent of the objections had been processed. If the complaints are upheld they would change the results of the ballot by potentially forcing the cancellation of the affected votes."

Read the full .

Related articles:
, Asia Times Online, 30 October 2010
[blog], Foreign Policy // The AfPak Channel, 25 October 2010

Related media:
Afghanistan: Election fraud, Karzai's controversial comments [video], PBS NewsHour, 26 October 2010

Related posts:
Surprising election results reveal new faces outnumber old ones, 22 October 2010
Election Commission invalidates 1.3 million ballots, announces preliminary winners, 20 October 2010
Ten percent of ballots nullified amid election fraud probe, 12 October 2010
Head election official arrested amidst allegations of fraud, 5 October 2010
Taliban kidnap Afghan vote candidate, officials, 17 September 2010