An Election Worthy Of Tammany Hall

This weekend’s parliamentary election in Afghanistan would make Boss Tweed blush. You can try and put lipstick on the pig, but it’s quite obvious that the election results are overwhelmingly fraudulent and illegitimate.

Election Complaints Overwhelm Afghan Voter Commission

Afghanistan’s U.N.-backed Electoral Complaints Commission says it has received nearly 3,000 formal complaints about Saturday’s parliamentary elections, casting doubt on the legitimacy of the vote.

The commission says it received more than 1,300 of those complaints since election day, while the rest came before the vote. Tuesday was the official deadline for Afghans to file complaints.

Shortly after the polls closed Saturday, the ECC said it received allegations of fraud and misconduct that included late-opening polling centers, ballot shortages and voter registration fraud.

Ahmad Nader Nadery is the head of the Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan, which was one of the monitors of the vote.

“Frauds did happen in different forms. We have seen ballot stuffing, proxy votes, underage voting and also multiple voting,” said Nadery. “The most serious one is the ballot stuffing, our observers have observed in around 280 centers, in 28 provinces where the ballot stuffing did occur.”

Some election observers also voiced concerns that local warlords intimidated or coerced voters in some instances.

Afghan election commission reports new evidence of serious fraud

Internal reports from Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission on Tuesday provide new evidence of serious fraud in Afghanistan’s parliamentary elections, including turnouts that exceeded 100 percent in many southeastern districts under the control of the Taliban or other militants.

One district in Paktika province recorded 626 percent voter turnout, according to reports obtained by McClatchy Newspapers.

The new indications of fraud appear to strengthen allegations of widespread intimidation, vote rigging and violence that independent Afghan poll monitors began making almost immediately after the polls closed on Saturday and cast new doubts on the commission’s assertion that it knew of no instances in which commission staff members stuffed ballots.

See also:
Voter fraud claims abound after Afghan elections
Observers cite ‘serious concerns about quality’ of Afghan elections
After Afghan Vote, Complaints of Fraud Surface
Afghan election watchdog amasses evidence of fraud
Fraud, violence tarnished Afghan vote, watchdog group says
Karzai Hails Afghan Election as ‘Serious’ Flaws Found
Karzai praises Afghan balloting, but monitors say election was rigged
Low bar
Are Afghanistan elections hurting democracy?
Afghan Elections: Corruption Could Again Thwart Democracy
Bodies of 3 Afghan election workers found

Welcome to “”democracy”, Afghan style, smells like “nation building” gone wrong and behaving badly.

/and our brave troops are right in the middle of this fiasco, fighting and dying for something or other, does anyone really know anymore?