United Nations Radio

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan, UNAMA, says it is focusing its efforts on helping the country's electoral institutions hold a runoff vote with less fraud than the first round.

Election in Afghanistan

UNAMA's spokesperson Aleem Siddique said at a press conference on Monday that the November 7th run-off between the incumbent President and the runner-up of the August 20th presidential election will be far simpler than the first round.

"There is likely to be a need for far less staff for the second round. We expect the IEC will not rehire staff, who have either not followed procedures correctly or were complicit in fraud."

The IEC, or the Independent Election Commission, and the Electoral Complaints Commission are the two Afghan institutions in charge of the election, with the UN providing planning, logistics and oversight support.

Based on its findings, the Electoral Complaints Commission advised the IEC to invalidate 210 polling stations around the country, where the panel found clear and convincing evidence of fraud. This forced the runoff between President Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah.

Bissera Kostova, UN Radio.

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