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    Default signs of widespread fraud in Afghan elections

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8207315.stm

    An investigation by the BBC has found evidence of fraud and corruption in Afghanistan's presidential election. Thousands of voting cards have been offered for sale and thousands of dollars have been offered in bribes to buy votes.
    The Afghan Independent Election Commission that oversees the poll has also been accused of not doing enough to prevent abuses.
    We were passed information that voting cards were being sold in the capital. An Afghan working for the BBC went undercover, posing as a potential buyer. He was offered 1,000 cards on the spot. Each one would cost about $10 (£6).
    We were given some samples as proof of what was being offered. They are all authentic with the name, photo and home details of the voter on them.
    Widespread abuses
    The cards have been returned to the seller and no money changed hands. Others have also offered to sell us thousands of votes and some traders have even been arrested.

    The Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan (FEFA), an independent monitoring group, has collected evidence of fraud, in particular during the registration process.
    It found that in many places people were being issued with more than one voting card, that children were being given them and that stacks of cards were issued to men who falsely claimed they were for women in their household.
    Government workers - supposed to be impartial - have actively and illegally campaigned for candidates.
    Shahrzad Akbar, a senior analyst with FEFA, says that because they were only able to investigate a few parts of the country, the abuses could be even more widespread.
    "We couldn't observe how it went in every single district or village. I am sure that there are cases of multiple card distribution that we don't know about.
    "But those incidents that we do know about caused us enough concern to contact the Independent Election Commission and say, 'please prevent this!'"
    Money offered
    The Electoral Complaints Commission has been training its investigators in how to spot fraud on polling day. Like the Independent Election Commission, the body insists that any problems are isolated and manageable.

    But there is evidence that some people working for candidates have deliberately tried to influence the outcome of the presidential election by offering bribes.
    A tribal elder and former military commander in Baghlan province described how the system works.
    As a key local leader he is able to persuade large numbers of people to vote for one candidate or another.
    He says that he and other local leaders have been approached by teams from the two leading contenders in this election and offered money.
    "If one candidate gives $10,000, then the other gives $20,000 and a third one offers even more. It has become such a lucrative and competitive business. I don't know where they get their money from."
    Western officials concede the election will be flawed - that there has been corruption, that there is apathy and that the fighting will stop some from voting.
    Mark Sedwill, the British ambassador to Afghanistan, insists that whatever the problems, it is still better than not having an election at all.
    "If this was a western European country with a population at peace, then the kind of difficulties we're going to face wouldn't be acceptable," he said.
    "But we're working up from zero. And this election will be better than the last one, it's run by the Afghans themselves and I suspect - and hope - that the parliamentary election next year will be better and that the next presidential election will be better again.
    "So it's not a question of reaching some standard that's unobtainable - we have to remember the situation we're in."
    Western officials believe that these abuses will not change the result precisely because they are being carried out in the name of so many candidates.
    But as international forces fight and die to allow this election to go ahead, serious questions are raised about the credibility of the process and the balance between sacrifice and reward.




    With these tactics, it is not surprising that Taliban win the war.A democracy that does not respects it self its not a democracy

  2. #2
    Primicerius
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    Default Re: signs of widespread fraud in Afghan elections

    And the US gov't still has Iraq and its own nation to fix still.

  3. #3
    Amry's Avatar Ducenarius
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    Default Re: signs of widespread fraud in Afghan elections

    Honestly, is anyone surprised by this?

  4. #4
    Babur's Avatar ز آفتاب درخشان ستاره می
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    Default Re: signs of widespread fraud in Afghan elections

    Quote Originally Posted by Amry View Post
    Honestly, is anyone surprised by this?
    well I don't know why the West just get rid of Karzai
    Under the patronage of Gertrudius!

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    Yorkshireman's Avatar Praefectus
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    Default Re: signs of widespread fraud in Afghan elections

    Quote Originally Posted by Chinggis Khan View Post
    well I don't know why the West just get rid of Karzai
    He's just brought General Dostum back to support him at the elections.

    Eight months ago, it looked as though the controversial era of General Abdul Rashid Dostum, Afghanistan’s ethnic Uzbek warlord, had come to a brutal end.

    After allegedly beating up a political rival, he disappeared into exile in Turkey. Yet with only three days until Afghanistan’s presidential election, General Dostum, 55, has staged a dramatic return to his homeland as part of a deal to help President Karzai to victory. After landing in Kabul late on Sunday night, he flew by helicopter yesterday to his northern stronghold of Sheberghan, where he was welcomed by 20,000 supporters in the local stadium. “Everyone who supports Karzai, raise your hand!” cried the leader of Afghanistan’s one million Uzbeks on the last day of campaigning.
    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle6799717.ece

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    Babur's Avatar ز آفتاب درخشان ستاره می
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    Default Re: signs of widespread fraud in Afghan elections

    Quote Originally Posted by Yorkshireman View Post
    He's just brought General Dostum back to support him at the elections.



    http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/new...cle6799717.ece
    yet another reason to want to get rid of Karzai, Dostum looks like a walrus imo

    but anyway Dostum has been up to stuff he has changed sides so many times for one thing...

    Quote Originally Posted by Farnan View Post
    Dostrum deserves a bullet in the gut and then to be left to bleed to death.

    and fed to the dogs
    Under the patronage of Gertrudius!

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    Barry Goldwater's Avatar Mr. Conservative
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    Default Re: signs of widespread fraud in Afghan elections

    Karzai needs to go ASAP. That crook is definitely not helping us.

    Stuff like this makes me want to withdraw troops from A-Stan and 'Afghanize'/whatever the war by pumping the ANA with advisers & supplies, but there is always the possibility those advisers will be ignored and the supplies end up in the wrong hands

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    Yorkshireman's Avatar Praefectus
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    Default Re: signs of widespread fraud in Afghan elections

    Quote Originally Posted by Chinggis Khan View Post
    yet another reason to want to get rid of Karzai, Dostum looks like a walrus imo
    According to that article Karzai is surrounding himself with warlords to deliver the votes at the election. Looks like business as usual in Afghanistan. The last 8 years certainly has'nt changed the culture at all.

  9. #9
    TW Bigfoot
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    Default Afghanistan 'Elections'

    This yellow zone, represents the talibans current operations area. As you can see, they are well poised to carry out their threat to target kabul.


    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8207301.stm

    What kind of elections can there possibly be in these conditions, if you take into account the other already existing problems with the voting model itself, honestly, screw the pretense, cancel the election.

    edit: my bad, not sure how i did that, but was supposed to be a reply to this, http://www.twcenter.net/forums/showthread.php?t=288100
    Last edited by bigfootedfred; August 18, 2009 at 04:15 PM.

  10. #10

    Default Re: Afghanistan 'Elections'

    Quote Originally Posted by Bigfootedfred View Post
    What kind of elections can there possibly be in these conditions
    The kind that features a ballot filled to the brink with names of corrupt/criminal scum.
    Moreover, whenever fluorescent square motion is required, it may also be employed in conjunction with the drawn reciprocation dingle arm, to reduce sinusoidal depleneration.

  11. #11
    Farnan's Avatar Saviors of the Japanese
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    Default Re: signs of widespread fraud in Afghan elections

    Dostrum deserves a bullet in the gut and then to be left to bleed to death.
    “The nation that will insist upon drawing a broad line of demarcation between the fighting man and the thinking man is liable to find its fighting done by fools and its thinking by cowards.”

    —Sir William Francis Butler

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    Farnan's Avatar Saviors of the Japanese
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    Default Re: signs of widespread fraud in Afghan elections

    Funny thing is in 2001 Karzai was anti-warlord to the extreme...
    “The nation that will insist upon drawing a broad line of demarcation between the fighting man and the thinking man is liable to find its fighting done by fools and its thinking by cowards.”

    —Sir William Francis Butler

  13. #13

    Default Re: signs of widespread fraud in Afghan elections

    Fraud in Afghanistan?! Heaven Forbid!!!
    "If I have done any noble action, that is a sufficient memorial; if I have done nothing noble, all the statues in the world will not preserve my memory."
    - Agesilaus II of Sparta


    "Tact is the knack of making a point without making an enemy."
    - Isaac Newton

  14. #14
    .......................
    Civitate

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    Default Re: signs of widespread fraud in Afghan elections

    It's extremely ironic as to how the introduction of Democracy in Afghanistan has merely made it easier for the bastards to win and take over, and provided them with a conveniently easy tool and vehicle with which to oppress.

  15. #15

    Default Re: signs of widespread fraud in Afghan elections

    I bet most of them don't even know who the elections are.

  16. #16
    mrmouth's Avatar flaxen haired argonaut
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    Default Re: signs of widespread fraud in Afghan elections

    People, it is the idea of holding the election, no matter the outcome.
    The fascists of the future will be called anti-fascists
    The best lack all conviction, while the worst are full of passionate intensity

  17. #17

    Default Re: signs of widespread fraud in Afghan elections

    Quote Originally Posted by BarnabyJones View Post
    People, it is the idea of holding the election, no matter the outcome.
    Yup, lots of symbolism without any effect.

  18. #18
    ♔Goodguy1066♔'s Avatar Praeses
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    Default Re: signs of widespread fraud in Afghan elections

    Quote Originally Posted by BarnabyJones View Post
    People, it is the idea of holding the election, no matter the outcome.
    Well said...
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    nopasties's Avatar Campidoctor
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    Default Re: signs of widespread fraud in Afghan elections


  20. #20

    Default Re: signs of widespread fraud in Afghan elections

    Quote Originally Posted by BarnabyJones View Post
    People, it is the idea of holding the election, no matter the outcome.
    ...its like you say you must go to church no matter if you are a good christian or not.Bty i like how many media find these elections a success.Only one third of the voters went to vote and the fraud was clear in many cases.Its clear that the Taliban have considerable influence in many parts of Afghanistan

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