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In the aftermath of the August vote, the Karzai-appointed Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan had resisted calls from international observers to rule out ballots, saying Karzai had enough votes to win in the first round. The Electoral Complaints Commission, an independent body that includes three officials aion power leveling appointed by the UN, investigated and determined that 1 million ballots appeared to be fraudulent. “We will welcome their increased role and involvement,” Jawad said of the UN. It is in “our best interest to have the second round of the election to be as transparent and fair and democratic as possible.” Insecurity and threats from the Taliban suppressed voter turnout in about 1,700 polling stations where the insurgent presence is stronger, Jawad said. Though UN investigators raised concerns about fake votes attributed to those polling stations, Jawad said they shouldn’t be closed down even though estimated turnout was low in dangerous areas. Depriving Voters “If you close them down, then we would be depriving a large number of Afghans, especially the Pashtuns in southern Afghanistan,” of the right to vote, Jawad said. “It will not be regarded as a fair election.” There were more than 6,000 polling stations for the August vote; in about 500 of those, far more votes were tallied than cast, Farhan power leveling aionHaq, a spokesman for the UN in New York, said. In cases where the Electoral Complaints Commission threw out “a lot or all of the votes,” the UN was told “the station will not be open,” he said. The decision on which polling places to shut rests with the Afghans. Ballots are already being packed for shipment to voting sites across the country. More than 200 of the 380 district election coordinators for the first round have been fired for complicity in the fraud, Aleem Siddique, spokesman for the UN mission in Afghanistan, said this week. Working With Holbrooke Asked about Holbrooke, who was widely reported to have argued with Karzai following the flawed August election and who was perceived by some in Washington and Kabul as supporting a change in Afghanistan’s administration, aion powerleveling Jawad refused to say if the U.S. envoy had lost the confidence of Karzai or his effectiveness in working with the Afghan government. “Individuals are coming and going. It will not affect actually the long-term relations between the two countries,” said Jawad. He also said he has “enjoyed good working relations with Ambassador Holbrooke.” Massachusetts Democrat John Kerry, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was in Afghanistan last week and it was he who persuaded Karzai to break the impasse over the disputed election and accept a second round of voting. Asked if Holbrooke can still be effective in his post, Jawad replied, “This is a matter up to the United States. As far as we are concerned, Ambassador Holbrooke is still the special envoy” and “if he decides to travel to Afghanistan, he’s welcome.” Holbrooke told reporters at the State Department last week that if Karzai is re-elected, he looks forward to working with him.