The US-brokered deal aimed at saving Afghanistan’s crooked presidential election took a big hit today, as the Independent Election Commission has halted the audit of ballots just days after it began.
The halt was announced after the monitors on the side of Ashraf Ghani walked out, over a complaint about the method of checking the ballots for fraudulent ones.
Rival candidate Abdullah Abdullah, whose campaign uncovered evidence of ballot stuffing, is seeking a broader number of ballots thrown out in some cases, while the Ghani campaign, which is apparently winning going into the audit, wants to limit change as much as possible.
Abdullah is seeking to throw out ballots in districts which had overwhelming victories for one side and more votes than eligible voters, though the lack of reliable data on how many people live in some districts makes that a difficult proposition as well.