 | | | Hamid Karzai will run for another term (File) |
KABUL (Agencies) As Afghan President Hamid Karzai officially registered on Monday to stand for re-election, the head of Afghanistan's human rights commission raised concerns about gender voter fraud.
Sima Samar said Afghan men are illegally collecting voter cards in the names of women, citing suspiciously high levels of female registration in areas where women are often reluctant to travel.
The election is scheduled for Aug. 20 and Karzai, who has led Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, confirmed last week he would stand again. Other candidates for president and the two vice-presidential posts have one more week to register.
Karzai named current vice president Karim Khalili and former vice president Mohammad Qasim Fahim as his two running mates.
The current president is a member of Afghanistan's largest ethnic group, the Pashtuns, while Fahim and Khalili represent the Tajik and Hazara minorities, the country's second and third largest groups, giving the ticket ethnic balance.
Karzai took power as part of an internationally-brokered deal after U.S.-backed Afghan forces led by Fahim toppled the Taliban government in 2001. He remained in office after winning Afghanistan's first democratic presidential vote in 2004.
His opponents have had difficulty settling on a challenger in this election. A popular governor, Gul Agha Sherzai, withdrew from the race on Saturday, and Fahim was a prominent member of the opposition before agreeing to stand as one of Karzai's running mates. |  | Fraud fears " The men are just bringing the names of a woman and getting registration cards on their behalf and that is why I can say there is a possibility of fraud " Sima Samar Samar sounded alarm Sunday on potential vote fraud in the upcoming elections after a suspiciously high ration of women registered to vote.
In Logar province, which borders Kabul, nearly three-quarters of those who registered as voters were women. Unusual ratios have also been noted in Paktika, Paktia and Khost provinces, as well as across parts of the south, Samar said.
"The men are just bringing the names of a woman and getting registration cards on their behalf and that is why I can say there is a possibility of fraud," Samar told a news conference in the Afghan capital.
"The person registering should be there in person to take their card, and photos should be taken and fingerprints taken, and if that is not applied, it means that the officials who are in the registration site are corrupt," she said. |
" We know that during the last election there was rather serious fraud at that level on polling day and immediately afterwards, and that is what the system we are trying to put in place now is intended to minimize " Samar Samar added she feared voters holding multiple cards might be able to cast a string of ballots before getting a finger marked with the indelible ink which is supposed to prevent fraud.
The U.N. special envoy to Afghanistan Kai Eide said the apparent corruption in handing out voter registration cards to men was a concern, but he hoped strong election standards would prevent anyone with a fake card from abusing it in the poll.
"Much more than last time our focus will be on what happens there at the polling station. We know that during the last election there was rather serious fraud at that level on polling day and immediately afterwards, and that is what the system we are trying to put in place now is intended to minimize." | | Call on Taliban to join polls " I expect that every Afghan, where ever they are, even in the districts under the control of the enemies of Afghanistan, takes part in the elections " Sima Samar Samar also called on Taliban militants to take part in the upcoming presidential elections instead of attacking the polls.
"I expect that every Afghan, where ever they are, even in the districts under the control of the enemies of Afghanistan, takes part in the elections," she told reporters.
The Taliban control several districts in southern Afghanistan, where fighting between the insurgents and Afghan and international soldiers is its most intense.
Nations with troops in the International Security Assistance Force helping Afghanistan to deal with the insurgent threat have pledged thousands of extra soldiers to help protect the polls.
United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan head Kai Eide told the same briefing: "It is important to stretch out a hand and say it's better to compete at the ballot boxes than fight on the battlefield."
Fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar has called on Afghans to boycott the elections.
The Taliban were in power between 1996 and 2001 and are fighting an increasingly deadly insurgency against the government of President Karzai.
Karzai has pressed for talks with Taliban who renounce violence and are not linked to al-Qaeda in a bid to end the violence. |
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