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Afghan recount ordered; Karzai nears outright win
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| Contributor | ev |
| Last Edited | ev Sep 08, 2009 02:23pm |
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| Category | News |
| Media | Website - Yahoo News |
| News Date | Tuesday, September 8, 2009 08:00:00 PM UTC0:0 |
| Description | Afghan recount ordered; Karzai nears outright win
By HEIDI VOGT, Associated Press Writer Heidi Vogt, Associated Press Writer – 5 mins ago
KABUL – A U.N.-backed commission Tuesday ordered a recount of tainted ballots from the Afghan presidential vote, saying it had "convincing evidence of fraud," even as President Hamid Karzai for the first time surpassed the threshold needed to avoid a run-off and win re-election.
Doubts are growing about the Aug. 20 election's credibility, a key step in U.S. and European efforts to strengthen the Afghan government and bolster declining support for the almost eight-year war against a spreading Taliban insurgency.
The U.N.-backed Electoral Complaints Commission, an independent body with the power to investigate and nullify fraudulent votes, ordered a recount Tuesday at polling stations where it had found "clear and convincing evidence of fraud."
That means that Karzai could still have votes taken away from him. More than 720 major fraud charges have been lodged with the complaints commission.
Daoud Ali Najafi, chief electoral officer of the Afghan-run Independent Election Commission which organized the vote, said that recounting votes could take "two months or three months," suggesting the already overextended election is likely far from over. Officially certified results were due by late September.
With results in from almost 92 percent of the country's polling sites, Karzai has 54.1 percent of the votes, pushing him over the threshold that would allow him to declare victory outright and avoid a run-off with his main challenger. Abdullah Abdullah.
As more results have come in from the south, where Karzai's support is strong, former foreign minister Abdullah's standing has slipped dramatically. He now has 28.3 percent of the vote.
But the credibility of the election is increasingly in question. The Afghan-run election commission has already quarantined ballots from more than 600 polling stations rul |
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