No Absentee Ballot for Afghans in Germany

Afghan citizens in Germany will not be able to participate in the first ever presidential elections in their country on Saturday. A spokesman at the Afghan embassy in Berlin told news agency AFP on Thursday that due to organizational reasons, an absentee ballot could only take place in Pakistan and Iran. He said that many Afghans in Germany had no other identification papers other than refugee passports. He said the embassy was now working on identifying Afghan citizens and issuing them new passports. The spokesman said that investigations revealed that many of them claiming they were Afghans, weren't in reality. "There are a lot of black sheep out there," he said and added that the embassy didn't want to take the risk of organizing an absentee ballot under such circumstances. Around 80,000 Afghans are estimated to be currently living in Germany.