Afghanistan

As many as a third of votes cast for Afghan incumbent Hamid Karzai in last month's presidential election are suspect and must be checked for fraud, the head of an EU election observer mission said Sept. 16. The announcement by the largest foreign observer team in Afghanistan suggesting fraud on a massive scale came hours before authorities were due to issue a preliminary final tally expected to show Karzai with enough votes to win in a single round. The preliminary final result can still be overturned by a separate body, the UN-backed Electoral Complaints Commission, which has already ordered a recount of 10 percent of polling stations, citing fraud. (Reuters)