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Former Afghan Warlord Hekmatyar Claims Two-Thirds of Ghani Votes Fraudulent

Ayesha Tanzeem

   KABUL - Two-thirds of the votes cast for incumbent Afghan President
   Ashraf Ghani in last month's presidential election were cast without
   proper biometric verification and fraudulent, a leading rival
   candidate, former warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar said Oct. 7, joining a
   chorus of candidates making similar accusations.
   "This election has no winner in the first round. Both teams [Ghani and
   Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah] claiming victory are lying. If only
   biometric votes are considered valid and the rest discarded, I can say
   with confidence that Ghani's team will be in the third position," he
   told VOA in an interview in the sprawling Kabul house where he has been
   living since he moved to the city in 2017 after making a peace deal
   with the government of his now political rival, Ghani.
   He also expressed his willingness to join hands with other candidates
   alleging fraud, including Ghani's chief rival, Abdullah. Such a move
   could give significant momentum to allegations of pre- and post-poll
   rigging primarily targeting Ghani.
   Ghani's team rejects such allegations and Ghani himself, in his polling
   day speech, urged the electoral bodies to thoroughly investigate any
   complaints.
   Independent analysts, like those of the Kabul-based Afghanistan
   Analysts Network, have also questioned at least some of the turnout
   data presented publicly so far, calling some of the numbers
   "implausible."

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