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Afghanistan | International

Voters found they could wash off the ink, leading to fears of fraud
by BBC
Friday Oct 8th, 2004 10:54 PM
Afghans are voting to choose their president in what is the country's first mass democratic poll. The favourite is the interim President, Hamid Karzai, who has led the country since the fall of the hard-line Islamic Taleban nearly three years ago. However, a problem with the indelible ink used to mark voters' fingers has led to a suspension of voting in some Kabul polling stations. Voters found they could wash off the ink, leading to fears of fraud.
The UN, which is supervising the poll, said that voting could be suspended elsewhere as well.

"My own family members and neighbours who have returned from polling stations could easily clean the ink off while washing their hands," Abdul Hasiz Mansor, one of the candidates told the AFP news agency.

"Using this ink it is easily possible that people can vote more than once. We strongly object to this," he said.

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3727324.stm