Counting in Afghan poll begins today

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Sunday that some of the candidates who called for a boycott of the presidential election changed their mind and agreed to its legitimacy.

The discovery that ink used to mark voters’ fingers had at some places been washable, spurred most of Karzai’s rivals to cry fraud. ‘‘Some of the esteemed candidates have rejected the boycotting of the election,’’ Karzai said, adding, ‘‘We are hopeful, other candidates do not ignore the national jubilation and let the votes be counted.’’ The vote count begins Monday, and if no one gets a 51 per cent majority when full results are available in two to three weeks, the top two will contest a run-off in November. The Joint Election Management Body of UN and Afghan experts was to investigate the ink problem, but said vote counting would go ahead.