Afghanistan: Steinmeier Demands Investigation of Fraud Allegations
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- Announcement of Preliminary Results
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Federal Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier is calling for a careful examination of reports of massive fraud during the presidential elections in Afghanistan.The Afghan Electoral Commission declared the incumbent president Hamid Karsai the victor on 16 September. According to the provisional official results, he received 54.6% of votes already in the first poll.
Just before, the EU election observers in Kabul had said that some 1.5 million of the 5.5 million votes were potentially fraudulent and therefore needed to be checked.
The result we have now is provisional. And given the serious fraud allegations, it can only be provisional. Now it is crucial to investigate these allegations as carefully as possible. That is the job of the Electoral Complaints Commission. I expect it to be able to perform its work thoroughly and without disturbance. After all, we need clarity about the election. Also quite simply so that the elected president is recognized by the entire population across the country. This is the only way it can be a legitimate result. That is why the careful examination of the fraud allegations is in the primary interest of the Afghans themselves.
According to the Electoral Commission, the provisional official result of the presidential election held on 20 August is: Votes cast: 5,918,741 of which 173,200 were invalid. A further 82,783 were declared invalid as they were cast for candidates who had withdrawn their application for the post of president prior to election day.
The 5,662,758 valid votes were cast as follows:
- Karsai 3,093,256 (54.6%)
- Abdullah 1,571,581 (27.8%)
- Bashardost 520,627 (9.2%)
- Ghani 155,343 (2.7%)
- others 321,951 (5.7%)
The official result cannot be announced until complaints have been examined. This is the job of the Electoral Complaints Commission which is looking into more than 2000 complaints. This is why the official result could not be announced as originally planned on 17 September.
Erler calls for investigation
Minister of State Gernot Erler also called for a very careful examination of ballot papers to build the people’s trust in the legitimacy of the election. “We don’t need a shaky president but one who can act given the situation in Afghanistan. And one who has an “international seal of approval” that the election, or at least its result, is correct.”
