August 31st, 2009 by Zack

The number of election fraud claims deemed serious enough to affect the outcome of the Afghanistan election reached 567 on Sunday.

Citing a BBC report of an “explosive meeting” between President Hamid Karzai and Special Envoy Richard Holbrooke regarding the possibility of a run-off, Juan Cole questions whether Karzai is, in fact, stealing the election and if the United States is attempting to salvage the election’s legitimacy through a run-off.  The US denied any attempts to pressure Karzai into a coalition government, but Cole feels that such a government may be a good way to quell ethnic tensions. A New York Times report suggests that Karzai may be deliberately overstating the level of tension in the Holbrooke meeting as part of efforts aimed at “portraying himself at home as the only political candidate willing to stand up to the dictates of the United States.”

Leading opposition candidate Abdullah Abdullah has alleged that the only way for Mr. Karzai to win was through “big fraud.”  Speaking to a crowd of supporters, he declared that “if the democratic process does not survive, then Afghanistan doesn’t survive.”

Posted in Afghanistan, Countries, Elections |