**The UN special envoy to Afghanistan has denied accusations he tried to cover up fraud in the country’s recent presidential election.**Kai Eide said the allegations, which followed the removal of his deputy, Peter Galbraith, were “patently false”.
Mr Galbraith had accused his ex-boss of favouring President Hamid Karzai.
In the first public comments since the row emerged, Mr Eide said that his silence was being “exploited” and was damaging the ongoing electoral process.
Explaining why he had now decided to speak out, he said: “I have been motivated by my determination to make every effort to bring the election process to a conclusion.”
Credible result
The election has been overshadowed by widespread allegations of fraud. According to EU election observers, about 1.5m votes - about a quarter of all ballots - cast in August’s presidential vote could be fraudulent.
“I intend to deal openly with all these allegations against the UN and myself relating to fraud and bias at the appropriate time”
Kai Eide, UN special envoy to Afghanistan
They say that 1.1 million votes cast for Mr Karzai are suspicious.
The Electoral Complaints Commission and Independent Election Commission have almost completed auditing the suspicious ballot boxes identified, the UN said in the statement.
It added that the final remaining 100 boxes, of a total of 358, were due to be examined later on Thursday.
“We need to allow both these bodies, which were created under the laws of this country, to conclude their investigations, identify fraud and deliver a credible result in the next few days,” Mr Eide said.
“I intend to deal openly with all these allegations against the UN and myself relating to fraud and bias at the appropriate time,” he added.
Earlier this week, Mr Galbraith - dismissed from his post at the end of September - labelled the Kabul-based mission “leaderless” and called Mr Eide a “terrible manager”.
Mr Galbraith angered Mr Karzai by reportedly calling for a complete recount of the vote.
UN sources have said that Secretary General Ban Ki-moon decided to end Mr Galbraith’s mission after it became clear he was no longer able to carry out his work in the country. Some Afghan cabinet ministers had said they no longer wanted to work with him.