The UN's special representative to Afghanistan acknowledged yesterday for the first time that the country's presidential election had been tainted by "significant" and "widespread" fraud.
Kai Eide called a news conference to counter allegations by his sacked deputy, Peter Galbraith, that he had concealed evidence of vote fraud. Mr Eide said the United Nations supported vote fraud investigations which are under way and due to be completed, and a final result announced, in days.
The elections, held on August 20, have been overshadowed by the fraud allegations, mostly aimed at President Hamid Karzai.
Mr Eide's decision to speak to the media reflected the damage the row with Mr Galbraith has done to the credibility of the United Nations as the election's organiser and funder.
Mr Karzai leads preliminary results with about 55 per cent of the vote, against his nearest rival Abdullah Abdullah, who is on 28 per cent.
"It is true that in a number of polling stations in the south and the southeast there was significant fraud," Mr Eide said.
"The extent of that fraud is now being determined," he said, referring to investigations by the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) and an audit of suspicious ballot boxes by the Independent Election Commission (IEC) last week.
"It has been claimed that there was 30 per cent fraud. There is no way to know at this stage what the level of fraud is.
"No one knows. I can only say there was widespread fraud," he said.
Mr Eide called the news conference to answer accusations by Mr Galbraith, who was dismissed last month after a row with his boss over the fraud issue, that he tried to conceal information about the extent of the fraud.
He was flanked by the ambassadors to Kabul from the United States, Britain and France, with the German ambassador, the European Union's special representative to Afghanistan and a Nato representative also in attendance.
None of the ambassadors made any comment, and reporters were not permitted to ask them questions.
The EU presidency, currently held by Sweden, issued a statement saying the EU "stands firmly behind" Mr Eide.
Visibly angry, Mr Eide said: "Some of these allegations were based on private conversation while he (Galbraith) was a guest in my house."