AFGAHN AUTHORITIES DRAG THEIR FEET ON VOTE FRAUD

       Two months after Afghans voted in controversial presidential elections, authorities were still wrangling yesterday over whether another poll is needed amid tense negotiations between rival candidates.
       Officials in Kabul said Afghan politicians and their international backers have been involved in days of vigorous horse-trading in the hope of averting a run-off, which many fear could further destabilise the fragile country.
       Afghanistan's August-20 election has been overshadowed by allegations of fraud, mostly against President Hamid Karzai, including findings by EU observers that one quarter of all votes, or 1.5 million, were suspicious.
       Karzai leads preliminary results with around 55 per cent of the vote. He needs 50 per cent plus one vote to be declared the winner.
       His main rival Abdullah Abdullah has around 28 per cent.
       An official announcement - winner or run-off - will be made by the Independent Election Commission (IEC), widely regarded as pro-Karzai, which acts on the orders of the UN-approved Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC).
       ECC officials had been expected to deliver their roders, based on the finding of investigations into ballot-stuffing, to the IEC yesterday. The IEC is constitutionally bound to obey the orders. But officials, including an IEC source, said only informal meetings had taken place in which ECC members explained how they reached their conclusions.
       The officials said the ECC could make its decision public as early as yesterday, but the IEC is now expected to delay its announcement for some days.
       "The issue is that the IEC will not accept that ECC decisions and they are heading for a head-on collision and political chaos," another diplomat said, adding: "This means further delays in the final sresult."