KABUL: EU observers today branded as suspicious

1.5 million votes from Afghanistan’s presidential election and refused to be party to any “massive fraud”, flinging the polls into deeper controversy.

Afghans voted on August 20 in their second presidential election, but claims of vote-rigging have prompted a partial recount, meaning the new leader will not be declared for weeks, exacerbating the problems facing the war-torn country.

With about 95 per

cent of the vote counted

so far, incumbent Hamid Karzai is the clear frontrunner with more than 54 per cent of the vote, but the scale of the recount could tip the balance and necessitate a run-off.

“We have calculated 1.5 million suspicious votes,” said Dimitra Ioannou,

the deputy head of the

EU Election Observation

Mission to Afghanistan.

She told reporters that 1.1 million of the suspicious votes were cast for Karzai and 300,000 for his main rival Abdullah Abdullah. The remainder of the suspicious votes were cast for other candidates.

So far, the IEC has counted 5.8 million votes, meaning that the European Union has raised concerns about a quarter of all ballots tallied.

Ioannou said the EU calculations were made

on the fraud parameters initially set by the Independent Election Commission (IEC) — 100 per cent turnout at a polling station or more than 90 per cent of votes of one candidate.

The IEC has only

identified 600 polling stations, however, or about 350,000 votes for investigation. Ioannou said the government-appointed body, which Afghans have

accused of bias, had not followed its initial rules.

The UN-backed Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) has

ordered recounts at more than 2,500 polling stations. The chief observer of the EU mission said Afghans and the international community must let the ECC do its job.

“We are not saying

that every one of these votes must be fraudulent. It proves that an enquiry must be made in every

one of the cases, in

every polling station

concerned,” Philippe

Morillon told a press

conference in Kabul.

“We refuse to be complicit in any attempt of massive fraud,” he added.

Full preliminary results are due to be released Wednesday, nearly a month after the election, although the final declaration of a winner will not come until all the electoral irregularities are resolved.

“Today we will announce the preliminary results of the presidential election, based on 100 percent of the polling centres,” said IEC spokesman

Abdul Rahim Nawakhtyar.

“We will also announce the turnout and other figures. All details will be included,” he said.

Asked about investigations into allegations of vote-rigging and whether suspicious votes will be included in the tally, he said: “All I can say is that the preliminary results will be based on the qualified polling stations.”

The winner must

have 50 per cent of the

final tally, plus one

vote in order to avoid a run-off between the two leading candidates.

Analysts and observers have warned that time

is running out to organise a second round, with

expected winter snow in two months making the logistics of organising an election in undeveloped Afghanistan impossible.

This could create a

dangerous political vacuum in a nation where more than 100,000 US

and NATO-led troops

are stationed to battle a virulent insurgency by

Taliban militants bent on toppling the government.

Turnout is estimated

to have been 30-35

per cent owing to intimidation of voters by

Taliban militants, whose insurgency against the Afghan government and Western troops is at its deadliest in eight years.