The distance between Afghan presidential candidates Hamid Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah is growing rapidly as more votes are counted. Mr Karzai now has 42 percent of the votes, compared to 33 percent for his main rival Abdullah Abdulllah. However, last night Mr Abdullah told RNW reporter Hans Jaap Melissen he would not give up.

By Hans Jaap Melissen*

"No way, we have submitted complaints regarding electoral fraud and they could make the difference. Complaints about ballot boxes stuffed with votes at polling booths that remained closed because of the violence. And about ballot boxes at people’s homes. It is fraud sponsored by the state, by Karzai."

And Dr Abdullah knows for sure: "I’m in the lead, if you leave out the rigged votes.”

Listen to the interview.

Western tax money
President Karzai’s former foreign minister, now his main rival, believes the international community should take action, because so much foreign money is poured into Afghanistan. He points out that the situation is different than in Zimbabwe, where President Mugabe is operating in a vacuum. In Afghanistan Western tax money is used in a fraudulent system, Abdullah says.

So doesn’t that raise the question whether Afghanistan was ready to hold normal elections? According to Dr Abdullah, "Karzai has purposefully destroyed any chance of fair elections." He is convinced that the Afghans will lose all hope of a better future if Mr Karzai were to stay in office for another five years. And the trust of the international community will evaporate as well.

'Mafia regime'
And yet everything points to the current president being able to stay in power. Would Dr Abdullah be willing to accept a post in the new Karzai government?

"No, I should start with a big NO. N-O. Why? Because I don't see a place for myself in a sort of mafia-type regime."

And what if Abdullah were to emerge victorious after all, what would he do first? His intentions are ambitious: Dr Abdullah wants to eradicate corruption and restore security to Afghanistan. The objective would be to reduce the NATO presence in Afghanistan instead of the current steady build-up.

Mutual reproaches
As we take our leave, Dr Abdullah gives us a DVD which explains the various forms of electoral fraud his opponent has engaged in. However, his opponent in turn accuses Dr Abdullah of electoral fraud and intimidation, but he says the accusations are nonsensical.

New preliminary election results will be released on Saturday.
 

*RNW translation (gsh)