Presidential election fraud 'significant', says UN

Fraud in the August Afghan presidential election was "significant" and spread beyond the south of the country, the United Nations special representative to Afghanistan has said.

AFP - The United Nations special representative to Afghanistan, Kai Eide, said Sunday that the level of fraud in Afghanistan's presidential election was "significant".

"It is true that in a number of polling stations in the south and the southeast there was significant fraud, but not only there," Eide told reporters.

"The extent of that fraud is now being determined," he said.

Eide called a media conference to answer accusations that he tried to conceal information about the extent of the fraud in the elections, which were held on August 20.

The elections, the results of which are not yet known, have been overshadowed by allegations of widespread fraud, mostly aimed at President Hamid Karzai.

Karzai leads preliminary results with about 55 percent of the vote, against his nearest rival Abdullah Abdullah, who is on 28 percent.

Final results are expected to be announced by the end of this week.

Date created : 2009-10-11