"Quality" of Afghan vote in doubt

Afghanistan's largest group of election observers has expressed serious concerns about the legitimacy of Saturday's parliamentary vote, despite claims by the country's president that the election was a success. Hamid Karzai issued a statement yesterday, praising the "successful parliamentary election" which "has been another positive step in strengthening democracy in our country". But the independent Free and Fair Elections Foundation said it had received numerous reports of fraud, even though the final tally was not expected until October. The group, which deployed approximately seven thousand observers throughout Afghanistan, said yesterday that it "has serious concerns about the quality of the elections".