1 in 10 suspect Afghan ballot boxes to be recounted in disputed presidential vote

October 12th, 2009 Afghan member of panel investigating vote resignsKABUL — One of the two Afghans on a U.N.-backed commission looking into vote fraud in the August presidential election resigned Monday, citing interference by foreigners. Officials acknowledged that errors and miscommunication have plagued the investigation into alleged cheating in the ballot.

October 12th, 2009 Problems beset Afghan vote recountKABUL — Efforts to resolve Afghanistan's fraud-marred presidential election suffered new setbacks Monday when one of two Afghans on the commission looking into alleged cheating resigned over "foreign interference" and U.N. officials acknowledged that errors and miscommunication had plagued the investigation.

October 6th, 2009 Afghan, US troops kill 40 militants in eastKABUL, Afghanistan — American and Afghan troops swept through forested mountains in eastern Afghanistan on Tuesday, killing 40 militant fighters in a hunt for insurgents responsible for one of the deadliest attacks of the war on U.S. troops, the Defense Ministry said.

October 5th, 2009 Afghan election recount begins; 2 more NATO deathsKABUL — Afghanistan edged closer to a long-awaited resolution to August's presidential vote Monday as election workers started recounting suspect ballots and an official said a ruling on whether President Hamid Karzai won or will face a runoff is expected next week. The Aug. 20 election was hampered by violence and allegations of vote-rigging that have since plunged the country into an electoral crisis while Taliban militants are expanding from their southern strongholds into the north and west.

September 30th, 2009 US official says Karzai must earn Afghans' trustNEW YORK — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Monday that Afghan President Hamid Karzai's government must earn the trust of the Afghan people by addressing claims of serious fraud in last month's elections. In a meeting with Afghan Foreign Minister Rangin Dadfar Spanta here on the sidelines of the U.N.

September 24th, 2009 Afghan official gives 2-week window for new voteKABUL — Afghanistan has a two-week window to realistically hold any presidential runoff vote before winter sets in, an election official said Thursday in a stark acknowledgment that a quick decision is needed on whether to hold new balloting. Preliminary results from Afghanistan's Aug.

September 21st, 2009 Afghan fraud panel to use sampling in recountsKABUL — The U.N.-backed panel investigating fraud in Afghanistan's presidential vote has agreed to allow a recount of just a sampling of hundreds of thousands of suspect ballots to speed a process some fear could stretch into spring, an official said Monday. Preliminary results from the Aug.

September 19th, 2009 KABUL - Some ready-to-cast ballot papers for Afghanistan's presidential election were pre-marked for Hamid Karzai, footage obtained by the Guardian has revealed. Ballot papers pre-marked for Hamid Karzai that were seized by monitors.

September 15th, 2009 Recount ordered at 10 pct of Afghan vote sitesKABUL — A U.N.-backed monitoring body ordered Afghanistan's election commission to recount ballots from about 10 percent of the country's polling stations because of suspicious totals in last month's presidential vote, an official said Tuesday. The recount order raises the possibility that President Hamid Karzai's lead could drop below the 50 percent threshold, forcing the country to hold a second-round runoff between Karzai and top challenger Abdullah Abdullah.

September 15th, 2009 Recount order affects 10 pct of Afghan vote sitesKABUL — Ballots from about 10 percent of Afghanistan's polling stations must be recounted because of suspicions of fraud in last month's presidential election, according to an order from a U.N.-backed body, an official said Tuesday. The recounts raise the possibility that President Hamid Karzai's lead could drop below the 50 percent threshold, forcing the country to hold a second-round runoff between Karzai and top challenger Abdullah Abdullah.

September 15th, 2009 Recount ordered at 10 percent of Afghan vote sitesKABUL — A top election official says vote tallies from about 10 percent of Afghanistan's polling stations need to be recounted because of possible irregularities in the country's Aug. 20 presidential election.

September 8th, 2009 UN-backed commission orders Afghan vote recountsKABUL — The U.N.-backed commission ordered a re-count Tuesday of ballots where it had found "convincing evidence" of fraud in Afghanistan's presidential election, including polling stations where all votes were cast for a single candidate. Widespread allegations of ballot-box stuffing and suspicious tallies are threatening the legitimacy of Afghanistan's Aug.

September 6th, 2009 Karzai edges closer to 50 percent in Afghan voteKABUL — President Hamid Karzai nudged closer to the 50 percent threshold needed to avoid a runoff in Afghanistan's election, according to the latest results released Sunday. The Aug. 20 ballot has been marred by accusations of vote-rigging and election officials said they threw out results from 447 out of more than 26,000 polling sites because of fraud allegations.

August 23rd, 2009 US envoy 'expects' disputes over Afghan electionKABUL — The U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan said Sunday that allegations of vote rigging and fraud are to be expected in the Afghan presidential election but observers should wait for the official complaints process to run its course before judging the vote's legitimacy.

June 20th, 2009 TEHRAN - Iran's Guardian Council will recount 10 percent of the ballot boxes in last week's disputed presidential election, the state television reported Saturday. "The Guardian Council is ready to recount randomly up to 10 percent of the ballot boxes in last week's disputed presidential election," council's spokesman Abbas Ali Kadkhodai said.