Afghan challenger alleges fraud

The main challenger in presidential elections held in Afghanistan last week, Abdullah Abdullah, has alleged widespread fraud.

Mr Abdullah said he had evidence that voting had been widely rigged in favour of incumbent President Hamid Karzai.

The allegations had been sent to the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) for investigation, he said. A leading group of election observers has also said intimidation and voting fraud occurred in Thursday's poll.

The campaign teams for Mr Karzai and Mr Abdullah - a former foreign minister - each claim their candidate won an outright majority. Preliminary results are due in the coming days, but the final result is not expected for several weeks. More

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