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Fears raised over influx of fake Afghan poll cards

by Sayed Salahuddin | Thomson Reuters Foundation
Tuesday, 14 September 2010 10:37 GMT

* Enough fake cards for one in six Afghan voters

* Fraud, security are major concerns in parliamentary vote

* Election officials say they are ready to deal with problem

KABUL, Sept 14 (Reuters) - Thousands of fake voter registration cards have been found across Afghanistan, election officials said on Tuesday, and observers called on the government to act to prevent widespread fraud in Saturday's election.

The parliamentary vote is seen as a key test of stability in Afghanistan, where violence is at its worst since the Taliban were ousted in 2001, before U.S. President Barack Obama conducts a war strategy review in December.

Poor security and fraud are major concerns ahead of the polls, which the Taliban have vowed to disrupt by hitting foreign troops and then Afghan targets.

Last year's presidential vote was marred by widespread fraud, with a third of ballots cast for Karzai thrown out as fake by the U.N.-backed Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC).

On Tuesday, both the ECC and independent watchdog the Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan (FEFA) said fake registration cards, which voters must produce to cast ballots, had been found in Herat in the west, Kunduz and Baghlan in the north and Nuristan and Paktia in the east.

Neither had exact figures or could say who was behind the fake cards, but some media reports have put the figure as high as 3 million -- about a sixth of Afghanistan's roughly 17.5 million registered voters.

FEFA's Jandad Spinghar told Reuters some fake cards had been used in the past three elections but numbers seemed to be much higher this time.

"We have seen samples of fake cards found by our observers. If the government does take preventative measures, the level of fraud can be reduced, if not totally prevented," Spinghar said.

"The security organs have the time to basically find the specific differences between the real and fake cards and appoint police at each polling station to check any voter's card. Any one found with a faked card should be arrested and prosecuted."

The election was originally to have been held on May 22 but was pushed back, at the urging of Western allies, to allow the government time to implement safeguards to avoid a repeat of last year's fraud-marred presidential poll.

It is also seen as a test of credibility for Karzai after last year's ballot. Karzai has lately been seeking to assert his independence from his Western allies after his government was criticised for not doing enough to tackle rampant graft.

Washington worries that widespread corruption weakens the central government's control, hampering its ability to train Afghan security forces so the almost 150,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan can gradually start to leave.

HOSTILE PARLIAMENT

While Karzai is not running, he could face a hostile parliament if enough regional and ethnic-based members form blocs that could oppose him on issues such as cabinet appointments.

After last year's election, Karzai moved quickly to change the make-up of the ECC, reducing the number of foreigners among its five commissioners from three to two.

The United Nations top diplomat in Afghanistan, however, has said no ECC decision will be ratified unless it has the agreement of at least one of the two foreign commissioners.

ECC spokesman Ahmad Zia Rafat said the U.N.-backed body had also seen fake cards but did not know who was behind them.

"We have received complaints about this and have raised our concerns," Rafat said. "We have specimens of some faked voting cards, but do not know the culprits."

More than 1,000 complaints have been lodged with the ECC, ranging from intimidation of candidates and voters to improper use of government services in support of particular candidates and unfair campaigners.

Election observers expect many more complaints to be lodged after the election, in which 2,447 candidates are vying for 249 seats in the wolesi jirga, or lower house of parliament.

A high number of complaints could delay the results of the election. Preliminary results are not expected until Oct. 8, with the final outcome set to be released on Oct. 30.

A spokesman for Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission, which is running the poll, said election workers should be able to identify fake cards.

"The commission can identify the difference between the faked and the real cards because the papers differ," spokesman Noor Mohammad Noor said.

Karzai's office said on Monday security forces were ready to secure the polls, even though at least 1,019 of 6,835 polling centres would remain closed because of security fears.

The Taliban failed to completely disrupt last year's vote but attacks and threats of violence helped keep turnout low in some areas of the important Pashtun tribal belt in the south and east.

(Editing by Paul Tait)

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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