Too early to judge Afghan election: Hamid Karzai's spokesperson

Afghan president Hamid Karzai's chief spokesperson on Monday said it was too early to judge the quality of a parliamentary vote at the weekend, with the election watchdog saying it expected thousands of complaints to be heard.

Afghan election officials were quick to declare Saturday's vote a success despite reports of fraud, low voter turnout and attacks by the Taliban across the country.

"It is early for us to make concrete judgement ... as far as the quality of the election is concerned, and organisation, this is too early to judge," chief Karzai spokesman Waheed Omer told a news conference in Kabul.

On Sunday, Staffan de Mistura, the top UN envoy in Afghanistan, said it was too early to describe it as a success, as some Afghan election officials did as soon as voting ended on Saturday.

Results of the election are being closely watched in Washington ahead of US president Barack Obama's planned war strategy review in December, which will likely examine the pace and scale of US troop withdrawals after nine years of war.

A flawed poll could also weigh on Obama when his administration faces mid-term Congressional elections in November amid sagging public support for the war, with violence at its worst since the Taliban were ousted in 2001.

Afghanistan's election watchdog, the Election Complaints Commission (ECC), on Monday said it had already received more than 700 complaints and estimated that figure would reach around 3,000 as grievances poured in over the next two days.

The independent Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan called for cases of serious fraud, intimidation and violence to be referred to the justice system for prosecution. "We have observed more than 300 cases of intimidation directed by the warlords, those that were linked with the illegal armed groups," FEFA Chairman Nader Nadery told reporters.

Besides threats, attempted fraud was also a major concern, with reports of ballot-stuffing, repeat voting, vote-buying and other irregularities coming in from across the country.

The attacks and fraud, especially after a deeply flawed 2009 presidential poll riddled by vote-rigging, appeared to have an impact on turnout.

The Independent Election Commission (IEC) said that 3.6 million Afghans cast their votes, but early signs were that almost a million fewer votes were cast than in 2009.

The final turnout figure will likely be the lowest of the four elections held in Afghanistan since the Taliban were toppled -- presidential elections in 2004 and 2009 and parliamentary polls in 2005 and 2010.