Global Times - Afghanistan to hold election run-off November 7: IEC

Afghanistan to hold election run-off November 7: IEC

Source: Global Times
[02:55 October 21 2009]
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Afghans line to cast their ballots at a polling station in Kabul, capital of Afghanistan, on Aug. 20, 2009. The people of Afghanistan begun voting Thursday morning amid tight security to elect the country' s president and 420 members of the provincial councils. (Xinhua file photo)

Afghanistan will hold a second round for its presidential election on November 7 after incumbent Hamid Karzai failed to win a clear majority in the fraud-tainted contest, officials said on Tuesday.

Exactly two months after an election that Karzai had been expected to win easily, the Independent Election Commission (IEC) confirmed that he had fallen short of the 50 percent needed to avoid a run-off against his main challenger, Abdullah Abdullah.

"The election has gone to a second round. On November 7 it will be re-held," said Noor Mohammad Noor, spokesman for the IEC.

The announcement came a day after an inquiry by a UN-backed watchdog confirmed staggering levels of fraud in the August 20 vote, declaring more than 1 million ballots suspect – a quarter of the total cast.

Karzai confirmed at a news conference that he would take part in the second round, calling it a "step forward for democracy."

"This is not the right time to discuss investigations; this is the time to move forward to stability and national unity," the president said.

He spoke alongside UN envoy Kai Eide and US Senator John Kerry, whose presence in Kabul underscored intensive Western lobbying of Karzai to resolve the weeks of political paralysis.

Karzai also urged the international community to help ensure the second round can pass peacefully, with about 100,000 US-led troops fighting a worsening Taliban insurgency.

"People need to cast their votes free of any security threats so that by the power of their ballots and votes they can build this country," he said.

Also on Tuesday, US President Barack Obama spoke to Karzai by phone and said he appreciated the fact that the Afghan president had accepted the second-round vote.

AFP