We go to Afghanistan to speak with The Nation's correspondent covering Saturday's election where all 15 of incumbent Hamid Karzai's opponents announced they were boycotting the election because of voting problems. [includes rush transcript]
Ballots from Afghanistan's first direct presidential election poured into collection centers across the country today.
Several opponents of President Hamid Karzai, including his chief rival Yunis Qanui, have abandoned their boycott of the poll over allegations of fraud, and irregularities.
On Saturday, 15 of Karzai's challengers announced a boycott, saying a system to prevent multiple voting had failed. The indelible ink used to mark voters” fingers after casting their ballots could easily be wiped out in some cases, meaning that illegal multiple voting was possible.
The Afghan-U.N. Joint Electoral Management Body gave candidates until the end of the day Monday to lodge complaints formally, and is setting up a panel to investigate.
The full official count of the vote is likely to take about three weeks, but an exit poll conducted by the Washington-based International Republican Institute, a GOP-associated think tank, showed U.S.-backed President Karzai heading for a landslide win. U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad has been an influential behind-the-scenes dealmaker on Karzai”s behalf.
Christian Parenti, correspondent for the Nation Magazine and author of the forthcoming book The Freedom: Shadows and Hallucinations in Occupied Iraq. He joins us on the phone from Mazar-i-Sharif.
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