Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai has agreed to let two non-Afghans take part in the commission that will investigate complaints about the country’s parliamentary elections in September 2009.

Last month, Mr Karzai came in for fierce international criticism when he announced that he intended to amend a law so he could choose all five members of the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) himself. Under the old law, the United Nations was permitted to choose three of the five members. Mr Karzai’s action was seen as an attempt to take control of the commission, which had played a major role in rooting out fraud in the elections.
 
When the elections were concluded, the ECC declared half a million votes cast for Karzai invalid. Mr Karzai went on to be elected president after his opponent Abdullah Abdullah withdrew before a second electoral round could be held. Mr Abdullah said he was dissatisfied with voting irregularities.