Panel to probe Afghan vote fraud claims

AN independent commission will probe claims by all 15 opposition candidates that Afghanistan's first direct presidential election was marred by incompetence and fraud, a top official said yesterday in an attempt to quash claims the vote was illegitimate.

The announcement came as election workers began the long process of collecting and tallying the votes from yesterday's historic polls.

Some of the 15 protesting candidates said they wanted a commission to rule on whether the election was fair and indicated they would accept its decision. A few hours later, their demand appeared to have been met.