Originally published by the Voice of America (www.voanews.com).
Voice of America is funded by the US Federal Government and content it
exclusively produces is in the public domain.
August 30, 2009

Karzai Increases Afghan Vote Lead in Fraud-Tainted Election
-----------------------------------------------------------

http://enews.voanews.com/t?ctl=264F0B1:A6F02AD83191E160CFA22BA3B207620021A4E82C900CD027&
 
Election officials say that after counting ballots from more than
one-third of the polling stations, Mr. Karzai has 46 percent of the
vote, while Mr. Abdullah has 31 percent 
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has increased his lead over his nearest
opponent, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, in the latest
election results released Saturday. An Afghan man washes his dishes in
front of a poster of Afghan President Hamid Karzai in Kabul,
Afghanistan, 29 Aug 2009Election officials say that after counting
ballots from more than one-third of the polling stations used in the
August 20 election, Mr. Karzai has 46 percent of the vote, while Mr.
Abdullah has 31 percent. Mr. Karzai has been criticized for recruiting
former warlords to help win votes. Abdul Rashid Dostum, widely reported
to be partly responsible for the alleged massacre of some 2,000 Taliban
prisoners, campaigned in Afghanistan for the president last week. Votes
could be thrown out by the Elections Complaints Commission, which has
received more than 2,000 complaints, including some 450 the commission
says are serious enough to alter the outcome. A candidate needs more
than 50 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff between the top two
candidates. Additional, partial results are to be released Monday. Final
results are not due until September 3 at the earliest. In violence
Saturday, an explosion killed a British marine on foot patrol in
southern Helmand province. His death came as Britain's Prime Minister
Gordon Brown visited British troops in southern Afghanistan. Mr. Brown
promised troops more support in their battle against Taliban insurgents,
and equipment to protect them from roadside bombs. In eastern Zabul
province Saturday, a suicide bomber blew himself up near a NATO patrol
in a market in Shar Joy, killing two civilians and wounding 21 others.
Separately, the U.S. State Department on Saturday denied Afghan media
reports that the United States is encouraging the formation of a
coalition government in Afghanistan. The statement said the United
States does not support or oppose any candidate, and is only interested
in a credible election process. Some information for this report was
provided by AFP, AP and Reuters.


.