Afghan candidate Abdullah says he has faith in UN-backed fraud panel

October 14th, 2009 Afghan election official blocked from resigningKABUL — The Afghan president says he has rejected the resignation of a top fraud investigator in the country's disputed August election. The official said Monday that he was leaving because foreigners were making all the decisions on the U.N.-backed panel.

October 14th, 2009 KABUL - Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai has expressed concern about the investigation into election fraud in Afghanistan. In an interview on US TV, the BBC quoted Karzai, as saying that the resignation of an Afghan member of the UN-backed panel "cast serious doubt" on its work.

October 12th, 2009 Afghanistan: UN-backed fraud panel member resignsKABUL — A member of a U.N.-backed panel set up to investigate fraud complaints in Afghanistan's presidential election resigned Monday, blaming what he called "the interference of foreigners" and dealing another blow to a vote already mired in controversy. The fraud panel is expected to decide this week whether to throw out enough votes to force a runoff between President Hamid Karzai and his top challenger, Abdullah Abdullah.

September 25th, 2009 1 in 10 suspect Afghan ballot boxes face recountKABUL — Afghan election officials racing to meet a narrowing window for a possible presidential runoff said Friday they will recount a sample of 10 percent of suspect ballot boxes to speed long-delayed results of the disputed election. Preliminary results from the 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 15th, 2009 KABUL - Election authorities said Tuesday they would recount ballots from around 10 percent of the polling stations in last month's presidential vote due to indications of fraud. The UN-backed Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) ordered the recount after receiving more than 2,000 complaints of fraud, with hundreds of them said to be serious enough to affect the outcome.

September 10th, 2009 Abdullah: Afghan vote "state-engineered" fraudKABUL — The top challenger to President Hamid Karzai told The Associated Press on Thursday that the scale of cheating in Afghanistan's Aug. 20 election is only now becoming clear, and that he expects enough fraudulent Karzai votes to be thrown out to trigger a runoff.

September 10th, 2009 KABUL - Abdullah Abdullah, the main challenger to President Hamid Karzai in the Afghan presidential election, Thursday accused the country's election commission of corruption and bias towards the incumbent. In an interview with the BBC, the former foreign minister accused Karzai of fraud, saying the election was stolen from the Afghan people.

September 9th, 2009 KABUL - Afghan President Hamid Karzai Wednesday welcomed the partial election results announced by the Independent Elections Commission, ignoring reports of "clear proof" of fraud by a UN-backed commission. Karzai congratulated Afghan voters for going to the polls despite Taliban intimidation.

September 8th, 2009 Karzai has 54 pct of Afghan vote amid fraud claimsKABUL — President Hamid Karzai surpassed for the first time the 50 percent threshold needed to avoid a run-off in Afghanistan's presidential election, according to preliminary results released Tuesday, but with fraud allegations rising, a U.N.-backed commission ordered a re-count of tainted ballots. The chief electoral officer of the Afghan-run Independent Election Commission, Daoud Ali Najafi, said that recounting votes could take "two or three months," meaning the already over-extended election is likely far from over.

September 8th, 2009 KABUL - The US and the UN have increased their pressure on the Afghan government to allow a thorough review of the Aug 20 presidential election following mounting allegations of vote rigging, diplomats and news reports said Tuesday. A Western diplomat told DPA that Western missions in Afghanistan have been growing very concerned over the widespread fraud allegations and were trying to convince President Hamid Karzai not to interfere in investigations of complaints by the Independent Election Commission.

September 6th, 2009 KABUL - With some three quarters of vote counted, Afghan President Hamid Karzai has edged closer to the absolute majority needed to avoid a run off with his main challenger Abdullah Abdullah, the country's Independent Election Commission (IEC) said Sunday. Karzai has received 48.6 percent of votes from nearly 75 percent of polling stations tallied by Sunday, Daoud Ali Najafi, head of the IEC told a news conference.

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.

September 5th, 2009 Afghan presidential challenger wants results heldKABUL — The leading challenger in Afghanistan's presidential vote urged electoral officials Saturday to stop announcing preliminary results because of "highly suspicious numbers" in tallies released so far. Results from the Aug.

August 29th, 2009 Karzai increases lead to 46 pct in Afghan electionKABUL — President Hamid Karzai widened his lead in Afghanistan's presidential race as new vote tallies were released Saturday, inching closer to the 50 percent threshold of votes he needs to avoid a run-off. As Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission slowly releases partial results from the Aug.