Afghanistan’s deadlocked presidential election has run into more trouble after both candidates withdrew their observers from a UN-supervised audit of votes.<br /><br />Former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah was the first to do so, after calling for more rigorous fraud checks. <br /><br />His opponent Ashraf Ghani followed suit. His team said it was at the UN’s request in the interests of fairness.<br /><br />The former finance minister won the run-off by more than a million votes but Abdullah complained of rigging and demanded a recount.<br /><br />Ghani is a member of Afghanistan’s biggest ethnic group, the Pashtuns, who make up of most the population in the south and east. Abdullah has strong support from minority Tajiks.<br /><br />US Secretary of State John Kerry has played a key role in trying to reconcile the pair, both of whom claim victory.<br /><br />Now US officials have intervened again to try to resolve the disputed election that was hoped would bring about Afghanistan’s first democratic transfer of power.<br /><br />The crisis has raised the spectre of more turmoil in a country already fighting a Taliban insurgency.
