(29 Aug 2009) SHOTLIST
1. Wide exterior of Independent Election Commission (IEC) headquarters in Kabul where votes are being counted
2. Various of UN envoy to Afghanistan Kai Eide watching IEC officials counting and tabulating votes.
3. Various of IEC staff working at computers
4. Mid of graph
5. Mid of Eide
6. SOUNDBITE: (English) Kai Edie, UN envoy to Afghanistan:
"I came here because I want to see each and every stage of the process. I have not been to the centre before. For me it's important to make sure to ensure myself also for the UN that every part of the operation functions according to the rules the way it should so that the results have the legitimacy that we need. Its been interesting to see and to be explained how the process works and that to me has been reassuring."
7. Various of IEC warehouse and ballot boxes
8. Afghan armed police checking trunk
9. Wide of cars and barrel of gun
10. Police searching through belongings
11. Mid of policeman with machine gun
STORYLINE
The United Nations envoy to Afghanistan visited the Independent Election Commission (IEC) headquarters on Friday to monitor progress in counting votes from the recent presidential elections.
Kai Edie said during his visit that he wanted to "see each and every stage of the process."
"It's important to make sure to ensure myself also for the UN that every part of the operation functions according to the rules the way it should so that the results have the legitimacy that we need," he added.
The August 20 elections have produced allegations of widespread fraud - most levelled by opponents of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
Final results are not expected for weeks, but preliminary figures released this week show Karzai leading the 36-candidate field with 44.8 percent of the vote, followed by ex-Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah with 35.1 percent.
A runoff must be held if no candidate wins more than 50 percent. Abdullah has accused Karzai of rigging the election, a charge the incumbent denies.
On Friday, the UN-backed Electoral Complaints Commission said the number of major fraud complaints which could "materially affect" the outcome had soared to 270.
On Wednesday, the commission said it had received 150 major complaints, which could delay announcement of the final results.
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