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UN Seeks to Fire 200 Afghan Election Officials Bef
Date: 10/21/2009 Sender: CDP
UN Seeks to Fire 200 Afghan Election Officials Before Runoff Vote

By VOA News
21 October 2009

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The United Nations says it plans to replace more than half of the top officials involved in overseeing Afghanistan＇s flawed presidential election before the November 7 runoff.

U.N. officials say investigators found that 200 of the 380 district election chiefs in August＇s presidential vote were linked to polling irregularities or fraud.


An Afghan man looks at a newspaper with the news about the election results at a market place in Kabul, Afghanistan, 20 Oct 2009
The massive-vote rigging led to a two-month-long political deadlock, before officials declared Tuesday that the results showed no outright winner and scheduled a runoff.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his main challenger, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah later endorsed the runoff vote and said they would be ready.

Election workers are now preparing for the logistical difficulties of holding another nationwide vote in 18 days, before winter weather seals off remote areas.

The U.N. Secretary-General said carrying out the vote in a credible manner is going to be "a huge challenge."

U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates welcomed the announcement of the runoff vote, but said Afghanistan＇s struggles with corruption are larger than one election.

During a visit to Japan, Gates said that there is a "need to be realistic" that tackling issues of corruption and governance in Afghanistan are an ongoing "evolutionary effort."

Since Tuesday＇s runoff announcement, news accounts have described coordinated international pressure to convince a reluctant President Karzai to accept the throwing-out of nearly one-third of his votes because they were tainted by fraud.

U.S. Senator John Kerry is described as having played a key role during several days of meetings with Mr. Karzai since last week.

In an interview with The New York Times newspaper, Mr. Kerry said he told the Afghan leader about his experiences during his 2004 presidential election loss to former U.S. President George W. Bush, when there were questions about some ballots that helped decide the outcome. Mr. Kerry said he told Mr. Karzai "sometimes there are tough things."


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