Most Afghan Ballots Are Approved

An international team investigating allegations of fraud in last weekend’s presidential election set aside a small portion of suspect ballot boxes Wednesday but approved the overwhelming majority of ballots for counting.

Under pressure to resolve disputes over Afghanistan’s first democratic presidential vote Saturday, two members of the United Nations panel began their work without the third member, who is yet to be named.

Although the deadline for candidates to file complaints was extended until today, investigators said they would not set aside any more ballot boxes.

The U.N. team asked election organizers to isolate suspect boxes at 11 polling stations in four provinces after receiving complaints from candidates, said Craig Jenness, a Canadian member of the investigating panel.

There were more than 22,000 voting stations, and about 5,000 polling centers, in Afghanistan’s 34 provinces. Tuesday’s deadline for complaints was extended 48 hours, Jenness said.

He said the investigating panel’s recommendation to segregate some of the ballot boxes “does not necessarily mean that irregularities took place. It does mean that in reviewing these complaints expeditiously, it was evident that further investigation was required in those locations.”

Ballot boxes were still arriving at eight counting centers across the country. Many were being transported by donkey and helicopter from remote areas.

Hundreds of election workers have begun to prepare the ballots for counting, but by Wednesday night, the tallying hadn’t started.

The counting is expected to take several weeks.

The investigative panel was set up after 15 candidates who ran against U.S.-backed incumbent President Hamid Karzai announced a boycott of the election on voting day, as complaints of irregularities mounted.

On Wednesday, ethnic Uzbek warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum joined the two other main challengers to Karzai in agreeing to recognize the outcome of the vote if the panel did not find an unacceptable level of voting irregularities.

“Dostum is of the view that the election is a major achievement for everyone,” said his spokesman, Faizullah Zaki.

U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad played a prominent role in persuading the main opposition candidates to accept the U.N. panel and drop their boycott.

That prompted some candidates to dismiss the investigation as a face-saving measure to avoid a lengthy, divisive argument over an election Karzai is expected to win.

The panel can only recommend that a joint U.N.-Afghan government body overseeing the election take steps to resolve any problems the team identifies.

Jenness rejected a reporter’s suggestion that the investigation’s credibility had been undermined because the panel was moving ahead without its third member, and before all complaints were lodged.

“Neither Staffan nor I are intending to be window dressing,” Jenness said, speaking of Swedish election administration specialist Staffan Darnolf, the other member of the panel. “We are both here as individuals, not representing any organization. And our report will be made public.

“We also have full assurance from [the U.N. and election organizers] that we can investigate allegations against them. And we intend to follow that instruction -- if necessary.”

The European Union is in the final stages of nominating the third panel member, U.N. spokesman Manoel de Almeida e Silva said.

The suspect ballot boxes came from polling stations in Kabul, the capital, and three southern provinces, Ghazni, Wardak and Lowgar. Those three provinces are dominated by ethnic Pushtuns, most of whom were expected to vote for Karzai, also a Pushtun.

Jenness declined to give details of the complaints, but he said they included allegations that some voters’ thumbs were marked with ink that could be washed off easily, making it possible for them to vote more than once.

Candidates also complained that some voting stations opened late, closed early or ran out of materials, Jenness said.

“Misbehavior of polling staff was another one that was a common thread,” he said.

The investigators don’t yet know how many ballot boxes are involved in the quarantine request.

Jenness, reading from a letter sent to candidates Wednesday morning, said, “Our duty is to be thorough and impartial.

“In discharging our mandate, we intend to carefully balance the right of the complainants to have a fair hearing against the clear public interest in ensuring the election process is not unduly delayed,” he said.