Recount clouds Karzai poll lead

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

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Page last updated at 14:00 GMT, Tuesday, 8 September 2009 15:00 UK

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by Nasra Ismail and Biodun Iginla, BBC News. Nasra Ismail reported from Kabul

Results of last month's election have been released piecemeal

Latest results from Afghanistan's presidential election show President Hamid KarzaiHamid Karzai with 54.1% of the vote after 92% of polling stations declared.

The results push President Karzai past the 50% threshold needed to avoid a run-off with rival Abdullah Abdullah.

But the figures were thrown into doubt by the UN-backed election complaints commission ordering a number of recounts and audits of votes.

It warned that it had found "clear and convincing evidence of fraud".

The 20 August election has been overshadowed by claims against all the main candidates of fraud and ballot-box stuffing.

A credible election result was seen as a key objective for the West, as it continues its campaign against the Taliban.

The latest results came in from the south, where President Karzai enjoys strong support.

The Independent Election Commission (IEC) said Abdullah Abdullah remained second, with 28.3% of the vote.

However, it said it had set aside results from 600 polling stations where it suspects irregularities and the list of those stations had been sent to the complaints commission (ECC).

'Clear evidence'

Earlier, the ECC said a recount and inspection should be done for any polling station where 600 or more votes were cast, or where any single candidate got more than 95% of votes.

Grant Kippen, chairman of the complaints commission, said it was not known how many polling stations this would involve.

He said investigations conducted in Ghazni, Paktika and Kandahar found "clear evidence of irregularity" within polling stations and ballot boxes.

"We decided based on those investigations... that we would order the IEC to conduct an audit and recount of polling stations around the country."

Results from a number of polling stations showed President Karzai winning 100% of the vote.

The BBC's Chris Morris, in Kabul, says international pressure is being applied to ensure that the IEC is doing its job fairly.

However, the election is a complex process and becoming more complex by the day, our correspondent adds.

The election results have been released piecemeal by the IEC.

The previous figures, released on Sunday, gave Mr Karzai 48.6% of the vote against 31.7% for Mr Abdullah.

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www.AreYouPrepared.com Posted by BiodunIginla at 3:53 PM Labels: Afghanistan, bbc news nasra ismail, bbc news. biodun iginla, Hamid Karzai