I understand from election to election, and we all watch it carefully, that in any robust democracy, even a mature one like Canada's, not an election goes by without complaints being filed, accusations of fraud. Sometimes those are proven and sometimes they are not. We shouldn't be surprised to hear of similar accusations in a place like Afghanistan where this is brand new, nor should we be dismissive. We have to take it seriously, and I believe the commissions are taking it seriously: they disqualified candidates; they disqualified large numbers of polls; and they told the president, as close as he was to 50%, he was not close enough, apparently. There's going to be a runoff.
On October 21st, 2009. See this statement in context.