[ Afghan Elections 2004-2005 ]

All 16 candidates in Afghanistan's first-ever direct presidential election on 9 October filed complaints regarding irregularities to the UN-Afghan Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB), "The New York Times" reported on 13 October. Most of the complaints among the field of 15 rivals of presumed front-runner Afghan Transitional Administration Chairman Hamid Karzai involved the failure to prevent multiple voting, as the supposedly indelible ink used to mark the thumbs of voters could be washed off soon after its application (see "RFE/RL Newsline," 12 October 2004). Abdul Bashir Bezhan, a deputy to candidate Latif Pedram's National Congress Party of Afghanistan, has charged that some people voted as many as 15 times, according to "The New York Times." An aide to ethnic-Hazara candidate Mohammad Mohaqeq said ballots were missing from boxes from districts with Hazara majorities, the daily reported. Another candidate, Homayun Shah Asefi, alleged that a police official from south-central Ghazni Province reported that the manager of a polling station took two empty ballot boxes and brought them back full of ballots. Asefi claimed the manager in question was briefly detained by local police but was released after saying the ballots were for Karzai, the daily reported. In Spinboldak in the southern Kandahar Province, an election official wishing to remain anonymous claimed that poll officers were ordered to fill out 700 ballots in favor of Karzai. Hamid Elmi, a spokesman for Karzai's campaign, said his office is also submitting complaints involving other candidates' supporters. (For more on the Afghan presidential election, see RFE/RL's special website on the elections at http://www.azadiradio.org/en/specials/elections). (Amin Tarzi)