Afghan officials say 1.3 million votes are invalid

Nearly a quarter of the votes cast in last month’s fraud-plagued parliamentary elections have been canceled.

The elections last month were seen as a key test of the stability of Afghan’s fledgling democracy, and like the presidential election in 2009 it appears they were rife with corruption. Election officials also threw out around a quarter of the votes in that election, most of them cast for the eventual winner Hamid Karzai. The Independent Election Commission (IEC) is now investigating 224 candidates for fraud and other irregularities. Aside from corruption allegations, September’s vote was marred by intimidation as the Taliban warned they would kill anyone who took part. With 5.6 million votes cast, turnout was 40 per cent. Results of the elections aren’t expected until the IEC completes its investigation at the end of October.