Opposition Sees Gains After Afghan Voting

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Source: The New York Times

KABUL, Afghanistan — Opposition candidates are cautiously optimistic that they may have greatly improved their strength in the next parliament, despite widespread charges of fraud and low voter turnout that may yet discredit the results.

The opposition alliance headed by Abdullah Abdullah, who lost a tainted presidential election to Hamid Karzai last year, says that its own vote tallies, based on partial results, show that it is certain to win 70 seats, and once all results are in, it may win as many as 100 in the 249-seat parliament.

That would be a significant increase from the 40-50 supporters that Dr. Abdullah’s followers in the National Alliance for Change and Hope could count on in the last parliament, they said.

Supporters of President Karzai said it was too early to predict an outcome from Saturday’s parliamentary elections, and the Independent Election Commission will not have its first official results until October 8. Opposition leaders also said the results they have been collecting are preliminary and could change, particularly because it was unclear how significant a factor fraud would be.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/21/world/asia/21kabul.ht...