The UN wants Afghan election officials booted before a runoff, a runoff which may not be necessary

hmmmmm... the thick plottens...

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has said the UN wants more than half the top officials involved in Afghanistan's election replaced.

Mr Ban told the BBC that 200 officials who had been complicit in fraud should go, to ensure a run-off vote due next month was "transparent and credible".

yeah, it's probably not a bad idea to dump the afghan election officials that were complicit in vote fraud but i have just one question... what makes the un so sure they know who those officials ARE...?

in any case, it looks like developments over the past few days have forced abdullah and karzai to start some serious talk about a coalition government... abdullah had said all along that he wouldn't be willing to talk about a coalition unless and until karzai accepted that there had been election fraud... guess he's a man of his word...

Meanwhile the BBC's Andrew North in Kabul says there are indications that President Karzai and Mr Abdullah may reach some kind of deal, meaning that the run-off may not be required.

Mr Abdullah said he had spoken to Mr Karzai by phone, in what is said to be their first confirmed contact since the first round in August.

[...]

Speaking on the BBC's Newsnight programme on Tuesday, Mr Abdullah said a coalition government was unlikely, but if elections proved impossible for "practical reasons" the two rivals needed to talk to find an alternative solution.

There are concerns that holding a second round of voting in November could lead to a repeat of August's massive fraud, as well as logistical problems caused by winter weather, which could leave much of the north of the country inaccessible.

i'm in favor of a coalition simply because i don't see afghans trudging out for another vote when most of them didn't vote the first time around... add to that the possibility of snow and getting fingers cut off and it seems to me like it would be much better to forgo a runoff if they can agree on a coalition government...

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