Afghan poll winners include beauty queen

A notorious warlord accused of war crimes, a former journalist for British radio and a young woman famed for her beauty were elected as lawmakers in last month's polls in Afghanistan, according to provisional results released yesterday.

Election organisers have been releasing the results from the September 18 legislative elections for each province as they are ready and yesterday they announced they had finished the count for the capital, Kabul, and were preparing for them to be certified.

"We will finish counting all the provinces by Sunday ... and will have all the results certified by the end of the month," said Aleem Siddique, a spokesman for the joint UN-Afghan election organising agency.

Among the provisional winners from Kabul was Abdul Rasul Sayyaf, a powerful militia leader accused of war crimes by New York-based Human Rights Watch, which alleged that his fighters killed civilians, raped women and plundered at will during Afghanistan's civil war.

His aides declined a request for an interview.

Also named on the provisional winners' list was Sabrina Saqeb, whose supporters pasted campaign posters of her smiling face on buildings across Kabul, on buses and on the sides of horse-drawn carts. Many people said they voted for the unmarried 25-year-old, whose election campaign symbol was two fluffy bunny rabbits, because she was the most attractive candidate.

Another winner was Malalai Shinwari, who worked for British Broadcasting Corporation radio for three years reporting on Afghanistan before quitting to take part in the elections.