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 7 October 2009
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UN addresses questions about it role during Afghanistan election

07/10/2009

The UN's role during the recent presidential election in Afghanistan has come under question.

Kai Eide

Kai Eide

Addressing charges that Kai Eide, the UN envoy to Afghanistan, sided with incumbent Hamid Karzai. Wolfgang Weisbrod-Weber, the Director of the Asia and Middle East Division of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations, said that's a misrepresentation of the facts.

"He was always keen and he still is keen to let the institutions work out the process - the Independent Electoral Commission, the electoral complaints commission. He was always keen to strengthen these institutions and to look at the rules and regulations to make them as strong and credible and solid as possible, including on the question of fraud."

Craig Jenness, Director of the Electoral Assistance Division of the Department of Political Affairs says there are a number of reason that Peter Galbraith, formerly the top U.S. official with the United Nations mission to Afghanistan (UNAMA), was recalled, including his call for the election to be annulled.

"The fact that he was proposing this kind of unconstitutional change and establishing a defacto government in Kabul was one of the elements that convinced us that he wasn't the right person to be in UNAMA at this point."

Mr. Galbraith says fixing the election related problems in Afghanistan will require resolve from the head of UNAMA; a quality that he says has been lacking.

Meanwhile, Afghan officials, including representatives of the different political parties, are currently conducting an audit to investigate reports of fraudulent voting.

Gail Walker, United Nations Radio
(duration: 1'32")

Sound bites

Wolfgang Weisbrod-Weber, the Director of the Asia and Middle East Division of the Department of Peacekeeping Operations

"The fact that he was proposing this kind of unconstitutional change and establishing a defacto government in Kabul was one of the elements that convinced us that he wasn't the right person to be in UNAMA at this point."
Duration: 00:00:22

Weisbrod-Weber cut 2

"We are now in one stage, in the stage of the process where this audit of suspicious fraudulent votes is actually taking place. It's taking place jointly by the Independent Electoral Commission and the Electoral Complaints Commission. It's taking place in the presence of the party agents that's also in this rule so that there is transparency to the candidates of what's going on."
Duration: 00:00:27

Craig Jenness, Director of the Electoral Assistance Division of the Department of Political Affairs

"The fact that he was proposing this kind of unconstitutional change and establishing a defacto government in Kabul was one of the elements that convinced us that he wasn't the right person to be in UNAMA at this point."
Duration: 00:00:12

Jenness cut 2

"UNAMA doesn't have a mandate to monitor or observe elections. That's not our role. UNAMA could never observe the elections, because its involvement was to provide technical assistance. There would have been a conflict of interest, if it were to do so. And this is a normal, longstanding doctrine in the United Nations."
Duration: 00:00:27

Jenness cut 3

"What was established by Kai Eide, and he instructed UNAMA's political affairs department to establish an election center to centralize information gathered by UNAMA's field staff on election day and the days after. And this came essentially from three sources; one was a questionnaire on elections that asked staff to look at issues such as the security situation non the 20th of August, the presence of afghan security forces in polling stations or areas, women's participation, media reporting at the local level, performance of electoral officials opening of polling stations, the provincial assessment of the situation; how it was and spot reports of anything unusual on the ground."
Duration: 00:00:50

Mulet cut 1

"The responsibility for filing complaints is with the Afghans who are involved in the process: with the candidates, with the voters, with the observers. It is not the role of the UN to do their job for them."
Duration: 00:00:19