Opposition leader Abdullah Abdullah “concerned” about Afghanistan election

(NECN/APTV) – The leading presidential challenger in Afghanistan’s election on Saturday said he was “concerned” about the electoral process in his country and asked the international community to review the ballot which he claimed was fraudulent. “I think it’s the time for the international community to look at it and to look at the gravity of this,” said Abdullah Abdullah. “It’s not rigging one or two cases, it’s a state engineered fraud which has been collaborated by the IEC (Independent Election Commission). That’s enormous what is happening in this country,” he added. “My concern is that if we cannot save this process, if the future government of Afghanistan is based on fraud, on top of every other problem that we have, there will be illegitimate rule,” the ex-Foreign Minister said. Abdullah has urged electoral officials to stop announcing preliminary results because of “suspicious numbers” in tallies released so far. Results from the August 20 vote have been dribbling out alongside a torrent of complaints of ballot box stuffing and voter intimidation. International and Afghan observers have been critical of the vote, but have held back judgment until counting and fraud investigations have finished. Afghan election votes are still being tabulated, but results from 60 percent of polling stations counted so far show President Hamid Karzai leading with 47.3 percent, followed by Abdullah Abdullah with 32.6 percent. Karzai needs a majority to avoid a two-man runoff. The former Foreign Minister said that the tallies released so far show suspicious figures, with a number of stations posting nearly identical numbers for Karzai and none for any other candidate.