**Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s campaign team has condemned as “irresponsible” claims by EU monitors about the extent of election fraud.**EU election observers have said about 1.5m votes - about a quarter of all ballots - cast in the presidential vote in August could be fraudulent.
The monitors said 1.1m of the suspicious votes were for Mr Karzai.
The EU claims reveal a growing strain in the international community about how to deal with the election fallout.
Earlier, the head of the UN mission in Afghanistan admitted his deputy had left the country after a row between them over the election.
But Kai Eide, a Norwegian diplomat, denied reports he had ordered his US deputy, Peter Galbraith, to leave.
The BBC’s Martin Patience in Kabul says the latest fraud allegations are the most serious so far.
Mr Karzai’s team reacted angrily to the EU monitors’ statement.
A statement from his campaign office said: “Today’s announcement of the number of suspected votes, by the head and deputy head of the EU Election Monitoring Commission, is partial, irresponsible and in contradiction with Afghanistan’s constitution.”