Charges of election fraud 'totally fabricated' says Karzai

Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday rejected as "totally fabricated" allegations that irregularities marred as much as 30 per cent of balloting in August's election.

Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai on Tuesday rejected as "totally fabricated" allegations that irregularities marred as much as 30 per cent of balloting in August's election.

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"There were irregularities. There must have been also fraud committed, no doubt," he said in an interview with ABC television.

"But the election was good and fair and worthy of praise, not of scorn, which the election received from the international media.

Asked about reports that some members of a UN Commission had estimated tainted as much as 30 per cent of the vote, Karzai replied: "That was totally fabricated."

"That wasn't true," he said, calling the charges a "politically instigated statement."

"The election, as I mentioned earlier, had difficulties. There were instances of fraud, no doubt. There were irregularities. But the nation as a whole, was good and free and democratic," he said.

The Afghan leader, who is leading his bid for reelection in preliminary results, added that the ongoing debate about the conduct of the vote "rather makes me angry."

"We must not turn an election of the Afghan people, a victory of the Afghan people, into a nightmare for the Afghan people," he told US television.