Truthdig - Ear to the Ground - Report: Pre-Election Corruption Crops Up in Afghanistan

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Report: Pre-Election Corruption Crops Up in Afghanistan

AP / Rahmat Gul

Afghans string a line of election posters of presidential candidate and former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai inside a tent during a campaign rally in Jalalabad, Nangarhar province, east of Kabul.

This week’s presidential election in Afghanistan may not be the cleanest polling event, if the BBC’s findings about corruption and voting fraud are indicative of larger trends. The British news outlet reported Tuesday that bribery and bids to buy voting cards, combined with threats of violence from militant groups, could muck up the works come Thursday. —KA

BBC:

An Afghan working for the BBC went undercover in the capital Kabul to investigate reports that voting cards were being sold.

He was offered 1,000 cards, each costing around £6 ($10). Other vendors made similar offers.

It is impossible to know how many voting cards have been sold in such a manner, says the BBC’s Ian Pannell in Kabul, but there have been a number of arrests.

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