Minority Shiites make gains in Afghan poll

A minority Shiite group made gains in the Afghan Parliament after Pashtuns stayed away from the polls, election results indicate.
Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission announced Wednesday it certified the results of the September election for the Wolesi Jirga, the lower house of Parliament.
The minority Hazara community took 59, or about 24 percent, of the 249 seats up for grabs in the September vote, U.S. diplomats told CNN International. The CIA World Factbook indicates the community makes up only 9 percent of the population in Afghanistan.
Pashtuns, the Sunni majority in Afghanistan, didn't turn out in large numbers at the polls because of intimidation or violence in their provincial districts.
Western and Afghan officials told the news agency the disparity could lead to sectarian tensions in the country as it struggles to gain a democratic foothold in the war environment.
More than 2,500 candidates competed for the 249 seats in the Wolesi Jirga. The IEC in October threw out around 1.3 million ballots -- about 25 percent of the total cast -- because of irregularities, fraud and tampering.
U.N. officials, while recognizing fraud in the election, praised Afghan authorities for investigating the irregularities.