- Julian Borger and Kate Connolly in Berlin
- guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 8 September 2009 20.43 BST
Afghan police help injured civilians after a suicide bomb attack in Kabul on Tuesday. Photograph: ReutersA commission backed by the UN yesterday declared it had “convincing evidence of fraud” in Afghanistan‘s elections and called for a recount of suspect ballots.
The announcement came as the count put President Hamid Karzai over the 50% threshold necessary to avoid a runoff and win re-election. With more than 90% of the votes counted, Karzai was ahead of his main challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, by 54% to 28%.
Peace and Justice Post 
Karzai was hellbent on victory. Afghans will pay the price
November 4, 2009The declaration of victory caps weeks of farce and failure, especially for the UN. To send more troops now would be a waste
Peter Galbraith, The Guardian/UK, Nov 3, 2009
Afghanistan’s presidential election is over, and it was a fiasco. The decision by the Independent Election Commission (IEC) to cancel the second round and declare the incumbent, Hamid Karzai, the victor concludes a process that undermined Afghanistan‘s nascent democracy. In the US and Europe, the fraud-tainted elections halted the momentum for President Obama’s new Afghanistan strategy and undercut support for sending more troops.
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Tags:Abdullah Abdullah, Afghanistan, election, fraud, fraudulent votes, Hamid Karzai, Kai Eide, Peter Galbraith
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