Voices: 'Broken trust in Afghanistan'

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President Karzai has passed the 50% mark needed for victory in the Afghan presidential poll, but claims about widespread fraud have cast doubt on the legitimacy of the elections.

Here Afghan people give their views about the scale of electoral fraud and the damage it has caused to Afghanistan's democratic process.

Baseer Farahi, 28, university student, Farah

We are very disappointed about the scale of the election fraud. I saw it with my own eyes. I saw policemen placing fake votes on behalf of people who didn't vote, I saw them giving small kids dollars so that their names can be used. I saw all that.

I was going out to vote. On my way to the polling station I stumbled across a group of Taliban. They stopped me and asked me where I was going. I said I was going to the doctors. They said, no, you are going to vote and we'll cut your finger off if you do that.

Still, I went to the polling station, where a policeman asked me to give him my card so that he can vote for me. I didn't. I saw the dishonesty and decided against risking my finger.

There are so many other cases, so many people I know, who were in a similar situation.

The reality is that people took a risk in order to give their votes. There was dishonesty from one side and there was the Taliban on the other side.

They didn't let the people chose. Everybody is so disappointed. This is not a democracy and this is not the will of the people.

Many people didn't vote because of the bad security. If there's a second round - there'll be even less people voting.

I don't know what will happen now. I think something bad is going to happen. The trust has been broken.

Sultan Hekmat, 23, journalist, Kabul

The massive fraud has completely undermined the legitimacy of the election.

There have been many problems, particularly in the south of the country, where Karzai has a strong power base.

For example, it was reported that 25,000 people voted in Kandahar, yet there were more than 30,000 votes there. So there are thousands of votes for people who don't exist.

I am surprised that the fraud seems to be on such a large scale. I hope that the world community encourages the election commission to annul the results and hold another election. If they want democracy and change in Afghanistan, they should do that.

Many people talk about the fraud issue and the first question in people's minds is why the results are not announced at once.

After the first result when 15% of the votes were announced, there was little difference between Karzai and Abdullah.

Now Karzai is in the lead. So people suspect that this is a policy of Karzai's, to announce his victory gradually in order to keep people calm.

Anonymous Jalalabad resident

Things are not looking hopeful. Several parties committed fraud, not just one. Two or three candidates. It's very bad.

The person who will become president, will not be truly accepted by the people.

From what I've seen with my own eyes and heard from friends and relatives - certain people voted several times. They removed the ink from their fingers and voted again. In some areas, the number of the votes was much higher than the number of the voters.

When you take into consideration that voting turnout was very low, the fraud must be really big. So few people voted yet there are so many votes.

Whatever the result - it won't be a democratic one. It won't be what people have wanted.

Mustafa Hussaini, 29, NGO worker, Bamiyan

The voting here went smoothly, compared to other regions, in terms of security, rules and order. There were some minor irregularities, which wasn't unexpected and it's quite normal for Afghanistan. When I voted, everything seemed fine.

But what has happened in other regions, particularly in the south, is of course very disappointing. We did not expect this level of fraud.

I am very disappointed and doubtful. Whoever wins, I will not believe that he really won according to the will of the people. Even if that person is the person I voted for.

This level of fraud has done a significant damage to the democracy we are trying to build. Afghanistan is facing many challenges and they need to be dealt with by a person who has the support of the people.

We are in a state of complete uncertainty - the final results are not yet known and there are a lot of rumours and fear that once results are announced there will be violence because the opposition won't keep quiet.

Wahida Paikan, radio producer, Mazar-e-Sharif

Whenever I hear reports of fraud I get very upset. I used my right to vote amid fear of Taliban attacks, and when I hear they misused our votes, I feel like crying.

The election is legitimate despite the fraud simply because we dared to vote in the face of threats. But the fraud needs to be investigated. We need to know the truth. We cannot afford more chaos in the country. The situation needs to be dealt with through legal means.

I voted for Abdullah Abdullah, because I thought he might bring change. People knew that Hamid Karzai will win, legally or illegally. But we gave it a try.

We are experiencing a new life in Afghanistan. Moving towards democracy cannot happen without sacrifices. Our leaders don't understand how democracy works. They need to be trained.

Hamid Karzai needs to learn how to hand over power, the way it's done in the West.

Shahid, newspaper editor, Kunduz

How can anybody talk about transparent and fair elections in a country where rockets were flying on election day?

In some polling stations where I live, representatives of leading candidates were clearly campaigning for the candidates they worked for and were persuading those they knew to vote for their candidate.

Representatives of both Mr Abdullah Abdullah and Mr Karzai were doing this. Even the school teachers were offering high marks in the annual exams to those students who would vote for a candidate of their choice.

The outcome of this fraudulent election will be chronic unrest. There might be ethnic and other conflicts to divide the society.