Karzai organising run-off poll rigging: Ex-UN official
Washington: A sacked UN official has
accused President Hamid Karzai of organising second poll fraud
as his main challenger on Sunday pulled out of next weekend's
run-off election amid fears of rigging, the
latest news report has said.
Karzai's main rival Abdullah Abdullah today announced
he would not participate in next Saturday's runoff election
because his demands for measures to prevent fraud were
rejected.
"I will not participate in the November 7 election,"
Abdullah Abdullah told supporters, because a "transparent
election is not possible."
Peter Galbraith, who was sacked as the deputy head of
the UN mission in Afghanistan after alleging a cover-up of
election fraud last month, said there was no doubt that the
Karzai was running another massive fraud for the run-off polls
against the former foreign minister.
"It’s a sure thing," Galbraith said. "It is beyond
blatant. This is in your face. It has become clear that Karzai
has no intention of instituting reforms. He simply intends to
repeat the same fraud. It is the same exercise as before. At
some point enough is enough," he was quoted as saying by The
Times online.
Galbraith, who left Afghanistan abruptly last month
after accusing the world body of failing to prevent Karzai
rigging August’s Presidential Election, said that UN workers
overseeing the latest poll run-off had contacted him in recent
days to say that nothing had changed and that the second-round
vote will again involve fraud on a grand scale, the British
daily reported.
Bureau Report