Its investigation focused on 600 of the most serious complaints, and a sample audit of suspect votes at 3, 377 polling stations.

BBC: Afghan election goes to run-off

That second audit has now been questioned on many grounds including the fact that, through a set of careless procedures, the observers could have been duped when selecting a random sample of centres to audit.

ECONOMIST: A bug's life

He added that the board's internal audit - which looked at a sample of statistics - found no evidence of "deliberate instructions" being given to members of staff regarding the "inappropriate use of waiting times codes".

BBC: NHS staff 'felt pressure' to meet waiting times targets