Thousands of Complaints Expected in Afghan Election

Looks like this weekend’s election in Afghanistan went about as poorly as the last one. Afghanistan’s official election watchdog says it’s already received more than 700 complaints, and expects the figure to reach 3,000 over the next two days, according to Reuters. An independent watchdog meanwhile said there had been many reports of fraud, intimidation and violence that the justice system ought to pursue.

About 3.6 million are believed to have cast votes, but that’s about a million fewer than cast ballots in last year’s presidential election, and would be the lowest turnout of any of the country’s four post-invasion contests. Some officials quickly declared the election a success anyway, but a spokesman for Hamid Karzai today said it was “too early to judge." (More Afghanistan stories.)