The watchdog panel charged with rooting out fraud in Afghanistan's recent parliamentary election says it has disqualified 19 candidates on Sunday who had been announced as winners in preliminary results.
It was not immediately clear if Sunday's disqualifications would affect the power dynamic in the 249-seat lower house of the Afghan legislature. Most of the 2,500 candidates ran as independents, and many with more of an eye toward accruing power in their local provinces than weighing in on President Hamid Karzai's policies.
The Sept. 18 vote is being watched carefully by Karzai's western allies for signs that the Afghan president is committed to reforming his corruption-ridden government.