Abdullah Abdullah cries mass rigging in Afghan vote

A leading contender for the Afghan presidency who says he is ahead in the count after last week's election alleged widespread rigging as authorities said Sunday they were probing 225 claims of abuses. Western allies hailed the elections as a successful vote for democracy, but a litany of flaws and evidence that the vote was not totally free have mounted since Thursday's poll and fuelled speculation about a possible run-off. There are widespread irregularities, fraud and efforts for rigging, said ex-foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, President Hamid Karzai's closest challenger. He said his team received constant reports that turnout was in some areas inflated by four times the real figure, with all the votes for Karzai. Since this is a sign of widespread rigging, I thought the people of Afghanistan deserve to know what is going on and the international community deserves to know about our concerns, he said. Abdullah said the allegations of rigging had been directed to Afghanistan's independent Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) for investigation.