UN mission split over Afghan poll 联合国代表团对阿富汗选举意

The head of the UN mission in Afghanistan has admitted his deputy left the country after a row between them over the disputed Afghan election.

联合国驻阿富汗代表团首领承认，他的副手因与他在有争执的阿富汗选举中意见不合而离开阿富汗。

The election has been dogged by allegations of irregularities and fraud

But Kai Eide, a Norwegian diplomat¹, denied reports that he had ordered his US deputy, Peter Galbraith, to leave.

The row centres on how to deal with alleged² election fraud, with Mr Galbraith reportedly advocating（主张，提倡） a wholesale³（批发的，大规模的） recount of last month's poll.

A poll official said ballots⁴（投票） from 10% of polling stations needed recounting.

Grant Kippen of the UN-backed Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) said some 2,500 polling stations across the country were affected⁵ because of suspicions of fraud.

A substantive⁶ vote recount could force incumbent⁷ Hamid Karzai into a run-off after the 20 August poll - the country's second direct presidential election.

With 95% of the vote counted, Mr Karzai had a 54% share, electoral officials said last week.

But if fraud investigations⁸ cause this figure to drop below 50%, he and closest challenger Abdullah Abdullah, who has 28% of the vote, would have to go to a second-round vote.

'Cooling off' period

"There has been a disagreement," Mr Eide told the BBC's Newshour programme on Tuesday.

"That disagreement has been resolved（决定，解决） through his [Mr Galbraith's] proposal to leave the mission for a while and then he'll come back.

"He's a valuable deputy and I do hope that we can re-establish a good team and work together."

Mr Eide declined to talk about details of his disagreement with Mr Galbraith.

But he said it was important for the UN to respect the constitutional bodies in charge of the presidential election "to avoid any impression that there foreign interference（冲突，干涉）".

Mr Eide and Mr Galbraith reportedly disagreed over the extent to which vote recounts were necessary.

A wholesale recount as advocated by Mr Galbraith would be likely to ensure a second round run-off was held, The Times newspaper reported.

But it said that Mr Eide feared such a run-off could be delayed until May, potentially leaving Afghanistan in political limbo⁹（丢弃废物的地方）.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon later said Mr Eide had his "full confidence".

"I'm proud of what Mr Kai Eide and his staff have been doing under such extremely difficult and even dangerous circumstances," Mr Ban told the BBC.