Afghan election observers cite fraud

Elections observers in Afghanistan said Saturday there were signs of widespread fraud and irregularities in Thursday's presidential elections, but cautioned that it was too early to make a judgment on the poll's legitimacy. Officials with the Free and Fair Elections Foundation of Afghanistan, which dispatched nearly 7000 observers to the polls, found many instances of proxy voting, ballot stuffing and biased election workers, said director Jandad Spingar. The foundation is still in the process of compiling data, he said, and it would take weeks to come to a definitive conclusion on how pervasive the fraud was. Thursday's elections saw a record number of insurgent attacks at cities and polling centers around the country. However, tight security and deserted streets meant that the there were few casualties. Still, the threat of violence appeared to have kept many people home on election day and caused some polling centers to close.