Kabul - A UN official in Afghanistan accused of overly close ties to one of the nation's presidential candidates admitted on Sunday that there had been "widespread fraud" in the August elections, the result of which have yet to be announced. UN Special Representative Kai Eide told a press conference in Kabul that "I can only say that there was widespread fraud." He added: "Any specific figure at this time will be pure speculation."
Millions of Afghans went to polling centers on August 20 to elect a president despite massive attacks by Taliban militants. The final results of the election, which were scheduled to be announced by mid- September, have yet to be released due to allegations of fraud.
Peter Galbraith, Eide's deputy in Kabul, has accused the UN envoy of siding with President Hamid Karzai and of allowing "ghost" polling centers, which were at risk of fraud because of their insecure locations.
Defending his stance, Eide said his deputy's decision to close 1,200 polling stations, out of the initial 6,500 centres, could have sparked tension in the country by blocking large numbers of Pashtuns, the country biggest ethnic group, from voting.
Eide admitted that "Some of these allegations are based on private conversations while he was a guest in my house."
Galbraith was sacked last month by UN Secretary General Ban Ki- Moon, immediately after Galbraith's dispute with his boss on how to deal with the fraud allegations became public.
"The allegation made against me by my former deputy have not only been personal attacks against me and my integrity, but they have been attacks that in fact have affected the entire election process," Eide said.
Karzai won re-election with 54.6 per cent of the vote, according to preliminary results announced by the Independent Election Commission (IEC) last month.
But allegations of fraud have forced the IEC to conduct a sample recount of 10 per cent of the vote, a process that began last week. Election officials said Sunday that the sample audit was completed and the results would be announced within a few days.
If the audit were to show that Karzai's share of the vote was below 50 per cent, the incumbent would have to face a run-off with Abdullah Abdullah, his top challenger and former foreign minister.
The IEC official said a run-off would have to be held three weeks after final results become available and before snowfalls made rural areas in central and northern Afghanistan inaccessible.
