Afghan election body voids 1 million votes

KABUL - Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission said Wednesday that it has thrown out 1.3 million ballots cast in the September parliamentary elections, thereby nullifying more than 20 percent of votes due to fraud and electoral violations.

Fazel Ahmad Manawi, the IEC’s chairman, put the total turnout for the elections at 5.6 million people. The commission earlier said that 4.3 million voters had cast their ballots.

Manawi said that dozens of election workers were complicit in irregularities and fraud in connection with the poll.

More than 2,500 candidates vied for 249 lower house seats in the elections, which were marred by widespread Taliban attacks.