KABUL (Reuters) - A special court established to hear fraud complaints from Afghanistan's September parliamentary election has asked President Hamid Karzai to delay the formation of a new parliament to give it more time for investigations.
Sadiqullah Haqiq, head of the tribunal, said his team had reviewed over 430 complaints but needed more time to sift through evidence about allegations including fake voter cards, multiple voting and intimidation.
"The court has...asked President Karzai to postpone the inauguration of parliament for at least another month," Sadiqullah Haqiq, head of the special court, told a news conference in Kabul.
Karzai's office could not immediately be reached for comment on whether the president would agree to the delay.
The court was set up in late December in response to both complaints from disgruntled election winners about delays inaugurating parliament, and protests by unsuccessful candidates about the way the poll was managed.
The last of the results from the September 18 election were only released on December 1.
The tribunal was meant to deal with complaints quickly to clear the way for parliament to be formed. Karzai's office scheduled a January 23 inauguration and lawmakers have already started an introduction week.
But Haqiq said the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) had declined to hand over preliminary and final election results vital to investigations. The court might send investigators to the provinces to look into some cases, and had not ruled out ordering recounts in some areas, he added.
"We may need to recount the vote of some provinces, we may need to refer to the ballot boxes, and we may need to travel to the provinces and districts. We have full authority to do this in the whole country," he said.
Allegations of fraud in the September ballot -- and a 2009 presidential election in which about a third of Karzai's votes were thrown out as fake -- have raised questions about his government's credibility as a partner as U.S. and NATO leaders assess their long-term commitment to Afghanistan.
Karzai has been critical of the poll, which is likely to have produced a parliament with a larger, more vocal and coherent opposition than the previous assembly.
(Reporting by Hamid Shalizi, writing by Emma Graham-Harrison; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani)
