Afghan Election Audit Hits Another Bump - East Idaho News
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Afghan Election Audit Hits Another Bump

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GETYT 082814 afghanistan?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1409243318109Justin Sullivan/Getty Images(KABUL, Afghanistan) — The audit in Afghanistan’s disputed presidential election continued Wednesday without observers from either candidate.

This latest development only complicates things further as both Afghans and the U.S. wait to see who will succeed outgoing President Hamid Karzai.

Candidate Abdullah Abdullah, who first raised the issue of widespread fraud following the runoff election that put challenger Ashraf Ghani in the lead, pulled his observers Wednesday, contending that more deception was occurring during the audit.

As a result, the United Nations, which denounced Abdullah’s action, requested that Ghani also recall his observers.

The rechecking of eight million ballots has been going on for weeks and is not close to being completed. The United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan and head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, Ján Kubiš speculated that the audit could be finished around Sept. 10.

Recently, the candidates agreed to abide by the results, with the loser accepting a post in the new government that would amount to power sharing.

Last week, a New York Times reporter was expelled by the Karzai regime for a story that alleged Afghanistan’s current leaders would stage a coup if the audit dragged on with no clear winner.


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