Reader's Questions

A United Nations back panel’s investigation of Aug 20th’s Afghan Presidential elections has determined there is enough evidence to indicate widespread voter fraud. It has recommended the elimination of 954,526 votes for current President Karzai, reducing his election results from 55% of the vote to 48.3%. As this means none of the candidates received a minimum 50% of the votes, Afghanistan law requires a run-off election between Karzai and his top challenger, Abdulla Abdullah, Afghanistan’s former Foreign Minister.

Evidence of voter fraud identified by the panel included:

- Over 30 polling stations in which 100% of the vote went to a single candidate.
- One polling station where 100% of the votes show identical markings, 100% went to a single candidate (despite records showing the votes were allocated to a different candidate) & none of the 600 votes were folded.
- In 92 polling stations (almost 1/3 of the samples checked) all of the ballots had ‘uniform marking’
- In 69 polling stations, ¾ of the ballots had ‘uniform marking’

After a number of rumors that Karzai might not accept the recommendations of the UN panel, it has been reported that he has agreed (under what is being described as ‘International Pressure’) to accept the finding and hold a runoff. While a date has not officially been set, the run-off theoretically could happen as quickly as sometime in the next two to three weeks.

In Washington D.C.

Members of President Obama’s Administration and the Democratically controlled Congress are using the allegations of election fraud and now run-off to justify the President’s delayed decision as to whether to send additional troops or not. On Sunday, Rahm Emanuel was reported stating any decision prior to determining who is in charge of the country, & therefore if “there’s an Afghan Partner” or not, would be “Reckless.”

Former Presidential candidate and current chair of the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee, John Kerry called the idea of sending additional troops “Irresponsible…(prior to knowing)…what kind of government we’re working with.”

Any decision on General McChrystal’s request for a troop surge is reportedly expected to be weeks away.

Source: Fox News, Guardian.co.uk

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