Afghan election: Some candidates had changed their mind

Afghan President Hamid Karzai says that some of the candidates who had called for a boycott of a historic presidential election had changed their mind and were willing to accept its legitimacy.

The discovery that the ink used to mark voters' fingers to prevent multiple voting had at some places been washable, led most of Karzai's rivals to cry fraud and call for a fresh vote.

&to=http:// english.pravda.ru/world/2002/07/30/33491.html ' target=_blank>Karzai's comments indicated some movement toward resolving the arguments over Saturday's landmark poll, in which millions of Afghans voted for a president for the first time ever.

"Some of the esteemed candidates have rejected the boycotting of the election," Karzai told a news conference on Sunday. "And we are hopeful that other candidates do not ignore the national jubilation and let the votes be counted.