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Election officials in Afghanistan are tallying votes following a parliamentary poll marred by violence and allegations of widespread fraud.
Afghan officials said the security situation did have an impact on the polls, prompting many Afghans to stay away from polling stations. So far, electoral officials say only 3.6 million votes were cast in an election in which 11.4 million Afghans were eligible to vote.
Saturday's vote was the second parliamentary election to be held in Afghanistan since the Taliban was toppled by the US-led invasion in 2001.
Fake voting cards
In Jalalabad, observers said poll workers let people vote with fake registration cards, raising further questions over the integrity of the poll.
Fake voter cards flooded into Afghanistan ahead of the balloting, but election officials had promised that poll workers were trained to spot them.
But Abdullah Abdullah, a former presidential rival of Karzai, said that fraud would delegitimize the parliament.
"If, as a result of massive fraud it does turn out to be a sort of rubber stamped parliament, at the hands of the government, then we will lose the opportunity for checks and balances which is expected from the parliament," he said.
But the United States praised the Afghan electorate in a statement released by the US embassy in Kabul.
"The results and quality of the election will not be immediately evident, and the United States will support the Afghan independent electoral institutions as they do their work in the coming weeks, including carrying out thorough measures to detect and adjudicate fraud," it said.
Final results from the poll are not due until October 31.
PHOTO CAPTION
An Afghan voter casts his vote in a ballot box during parliamentary elections at a polling station in Kabul September 18, 2010.
Agencies
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