Afghan election fraud allegations to be probed

Ballot boxes poured into centres today for a count of the troubled presidential election in Afghanistan, where organisers hope an independent panel’s probe into the balloting will end an opposition boycott that threatens the country’s chances for peace.

Election organisers hope their decision, announced late yesterday, to establish a panel of about three foreign election experts to investigate the balloting will end a boycott that could seriously undermine the winner’s ability to rule this war-ravaged nation.