With just two weeks until the planned Afghanistan runoff vote, the United Nations is scramling to make changes in the hopes that the balloting will be at least somewhat less fraud-ridden than the last one.
The first move is to oust hundreds of top election officials which were believed to have played a role in the million plus fraudulent ballots casted in August. Other measures are expected, but time is not on their side.
In fact many are saying that the second round of voting could be even less credible than the first, with most of the same failed mechanisms in place and weather and a disillusioned public likely to drop turnout precipitously.
But no matter how big a failure it is, officials aren’t looking at any quick fixes. Top Obama advisor Bruce Riedel noted “a second fiasco will be the end of this. There can’t be a third round.”