Afghan election result delayed as fraud dispute deepens

KABUL: Afghanistan’s presidential election result has been delayed for several days, officials said Tuesday, as a dispute over alleged fraud threatens to derail the country´s first democratic transfer of power.

The preliminary result of the June 14 run-off vote had been due on Wednesday but was postponed at short notice to allow ballots in 2,000 voting centres to be checked -- throwing the handover process into turmoil.

Abdullah Abdullah, previously seen as the front-runner, has said he would reject the result due to "blatant fraud", while his poll rival Ashraf Ghani said the election was clean and claimed victory by more than one million votes.

The United Nations and donor countries have been trying for months to prevent a contested election outcome, fearing political deadlock and ethnic violence as US-led troops withdraw from the country.

But with the two candidates at loggerheads, many fear the impasse could tip Afghanistan into a risky period of street protests and uncertainty.

About 6,000 voting centres were open across Afghanistan on June 14, when voters defied the threat of Taliban attacks to choose between former foreign minister Abdullah and Ghani, an ex-World Bank economist.

Any tension between rival supporters could ignite ethnic unrest since Ghani attracts much of his support from the Pashtun tribes of the south and east, while Abdullah´s loyalists are Tajiks and other northern Afghan groups.

Ghani´s campaign team criticised the delay in results, but said it welcomed any attempt to prevent fraud in the vote count.

"We believe the election commission should work in accordance to the election timeline and announce results on time," campaign spokeswoman Azita Rafat told AFP.

"If this delay is for the sake of transparency then we accept it, though it runs against the election law."

Abdullah´s team said its boycott of the vote count was still in place.

"The (election) commission has lost its legitimacy for us, and the recount of 2,000 polling centres will not change anything for us," said campaign spokesman Jawed Faisal. (AFP)