UN fires Afghan vote staff for fraud

The UN secretary general says that it will fire most of the election staff complicit in Afghanistan's presidential election for widespread vote rigging.

Speaking in New York on Tuesday, Ban Ki-moon said the UN had learned 'a painful lesson' after noticing the widespread fraud in the August election in Afghanistan.

“We have learned very valuable and painful lessons from the first round,” Ban told reporters. “We will try to ensure that all Afghan people should be able to express their own will freely and without any intimidation or threat.”

Ban said the UN would advise the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) not to employ officials who may have been involved in recent fraud to make sure that mistakes would not be repeated.

"We will try to replace all the officials who have been implicated in not following the guidelines or who have been complicit in fraudulent procedures,” he told the BBC.

The UN investigation found evidence of massive vote-rigging in the recent presidential election in Afghanistan.

Ban told the BBC that 200 top officials who had been involved in fraud should leave, to ensure a run-off vote due next month was 'transparent and credible'.

It came after a UN-backed commission lowered Karzai's vote share below 50 percent.

The second round of vote, between Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah, has been scheduled for November 7.