Hundreds of tribal elders and officials from southern Afghanistan gathered in Kabul yesterday to protest against alleged electoral fraud that robbed entire districts of their votes and allocated them to President Karzai.

In a string of searing testimonies, community leaders told of villages that had been too terrified to vote because of Taleban threats — yet had mysteriously produced full ballot boxes. They said that most of the phantom votes had been cast for Mr Karzai, often by his own men or tribal leaders loyal to him.

“How is it that in a district which a governor can only visit once every two years, where it’s too dangerous for the police to go, where even Nato can’t fly — how come there were 20,000 votes collected?” asked Hamidullah Tokhy, a tribal elder from Kandahar province.

The council of Kandahar province in southern Afghanistan is led by Ahmed Wali Karzai, the President’s half-brother.

Yesterday’s meeting, in a crowded hall, was chaired by Abdullah Abdullah, the main rival to the President in the June 20 elections, which an increasing number of Western observers and local officials say have been fatally compromised by evidence of systematic fraud.

Dr Abdullah, trailing in results released so far, swore to defend the rights of voters. He pledged that he would not accept any position in government with President Karzai, ruling out hopes of a compromise administration of national unity. He said that he was having to calm outraged victims of the apparent fraud, as some called for mass protests or even armed resistance.

A day before envoys, including Richard Holbrooke, from the US, and Sherard Cowper-Coles, for Britain, were to meet in Paris to discuss the outcome of the elections, a picture emerged of large swaths of the country suffering electoral manipulation by the Government.

Abdulkayam Balets, an elder who had been in charge of a polling station in Shurawaq, Kandahar province, said that no ballot boxes reached his facility, but were instead sent to the district office, where they were stuffed with votes for Mr Karzai by members of the ruling party. “We want Karzai to resign and an interim government installed, then we can have a free election that he can’t manipulate by force,” he said.

Fazel Mohammed had a polling station set up in his house in the same area, and confirmed that all the ballot boxes were sent to the Shurawaq district office. “There were 30 people in there, voting for Hamid Karzai. I told them, ‘This is not right’, but they said, ‘We’ve got the guns and power, that’s why we’re doing it’,” he told The Times.

Haji Abdul Manan, an elder from Lashkar Gah, capital of Helmand province, where British Forces have engaged in heavy fighting with the Taleban, said that most people had been too scared to venture out on election day. “In all the districts there was fraud. Nobody could vote, but the ballot boxes were full of votes for Hamid Karzai,” he said.

Earlier, speaking on the podium, Mr Manan called for a violent response to the fraud, a sign that disenchantment with the polls could further aggravate Afghanistan’s already bloody political landscape.

“I implore military resistance. I swear to God, if an Islamic government does not take office we’re against it,” he said. “The Americans are entering our houses. Our sons are being killed,” he added.

Isatullah, an election official in Paktia, south of Kabul, told The Times by telephone that bodyguards of a powerful tribal leader had shown up at his polling centre on motorbikes and stuffed about sixty ballots each for Mr Karzai into the ballot boxes. Officials were too afraid to stop them, he said.

Dr Abdullah said that he would not drop his protests against vote rigging, although he urged his supporters to remain calm, amid fears that massive demonstrations could degenerate into the bloodshed that marked anti-government protests in Iran this summer.

“My main concern today is that there is a lot of pressure from the people on me for demonstrations. Kandahar wants demonstrations. Khost wants demonstrations. Ghazni wants demonstrations. And I have to stop them,” he said.

“I ask them for calm, I ask for patience ... I still hope the Electoral Complaints Commission will deal with this, but I will not accept the outcome decided by this massive fraud,” he declared.

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