Afghanistan announces final parliamentary election results

Wed, 24 Nov 2010

Kabul - Afghan election officials on Wednesday issued the long-delayed final results of the September 18 parliamentary elections, which were marred by widespread fraud.

More than 1.3 million votes, nearly one-fourth of total ballots cast, were ruled invalid by the election commission.

"With all the shortcomings it was a major success for us, the Afghan government, people of Afghanistan and our international friends," Fazel Ahmad Manawi, chairman of Independent Election Commission, said.

The results covered 33 of 34 provinces, and 10 seats set aside for Kuchi nomads. Officials were undecided about whether to certify results from the southern province of Ghazni or call a new election.

More than two dozen preliminary winners, among them a cousin of President Hamid Karzai, were disqualified. Manawi also said 1,153 polling sites were disqualified due to irregularities.

A UN-backed commission examining allegations of fraud had received more than 6,000 complaints from observers, voters and candidates.

More than 2,500 candidates, including over 400 women, vied for 249 lower house seats, known as Wolesi Jirga. Sixty-nine women candidates won seats in the lower house, one more than the quota guaranteed by the constitution for women.

For Karzai, the lower house is vital because it has the authority to question his policies, approve or reject his cabinet nominations, and vote on laws proposed by the executive.

But the makeup of the legislature is unclear, as Afghanistan as little experience with electoral democracy and does not have party organizations with declared policy agendas. Most candidacies ran as individuals, and much voting came down along tribal lines.

The scale of the fraud rivaled that of last year's presidential election, where one-third of votes for incumbent Karzai votes were declared void.

Western nations with 150,000 troops in Afghanistan are carefully watching the process to see if Karzai is committed to reforming his government, and his tarnished reputation.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/354965,final-parliamentary-election-results.html.