Afghan elections
Inside Story

Afghan elections

Inside Story discusses whether the elections were free and fair or corrupt and flawed.

The first results of Afghanistan’s second presidential elections are expected to be released on Tuesday – and it is already being dogged by claims it was rigged.  

Over a hundred complaints about irregulaties have been filed with the Afghan election complaints committee. 
 
And while the country’s election commission tried to include women, they failed to recruit enough female staff to cover the women only polling stations, leaving 650 closed.
 
Just how fair was the vote? What will the outcome mean for the country? And how serious has the Taliban threat been?

Inside Story presenter Sohail Rahman is joined by Hekmat Karzai, the director of the Centre for Conflict & Peace studies, Glenn Cowan, the co-founder of Democracy International, one of the groups monitoring the election, and Fatana Ishaq Gailani, the chairwoman of the Afghan Women Council.

This episode of Inside Story aired from Sunday, August 23, 2009.