2,558 complaints over Afghan presidential runoff

Allegations of ballot box stuffing and other fraud saw 2,558 complaints filed over Afghanistan's presidential runoff election last week, an Afghan official said Tuesday, as vote counting continues in the race over who will lead this country staggered by decades of war, The Associated Press reported. 

The announcement comes as both candidates have said their own monitors at the polls recorded significant fraud, raising the prospect of a fight over the results.

Nadir Mohsini, spokesman for the Electoral Complaint Commission, gave the total Tuesday after the deadline to file complaints expired at midnight.

"The majority of the complaints we have registered are from the election commission employees as well as the government officials," Mohsini said.

Abdullah Abdullah, who emerged as the front-runner with 45 percent of the vote in the first round, faced Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, an ex-World Bank official and finance minister, in the vote Saturday. Both Abdullah and Ahmadzai have said their monitors saw significant fraud in the vote.

During the first round of the election, the commission reported receiving around 2,000 complaints. Then, the complaints focused on election workers and government employees who were allegedly involved.

Observer groups said Saturday's vote was relatively smooth, although both candidates and observers said they had evidence of fraud ranging from ballot box stuffing to proxy voting. Several polling stations also opened late or failed to open at all because of security concerns, and many voters complained of ballot shortages.