CAIRO — Afghanistan is preparing for an election run-off as a UN-backed Afghan probe has trimmed incumbent President Hamid Karzai’s vote share to below 50 percent. The result is “stunning”, an election official familiar with the probe told the Washington Post on Friday, October 16.
The probe, conducted by the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC), has reduced Karzai’s vote share to only 47 percent.
Preliminary results earlier gave Karzai 54.6 percent of the August 20, against 28 percent to his main rival Abdullah Abdullah.
Afghan Ambassador to the United States, Said Tayeb Jawad, also conceded that a runoff is most likely.
"A run-off is a likely scenario," Jawad said at the US Institute of Peace.
Karzai needs more than 50 percent of the vote to avoid election runoff.
Complaints have been surfacing on widespread fraud during the August ballot.
The ECC has ordered recounts at more than 2,500 polling stations, around 10 percent of the total, after it found "clear and convincing evidence of fraud".
EU observers also identified 1.5 million votes that could be fraudulent -- nearly a quarter of the total valid votes, and 1.1 of them cast for Karzai.
Full Swing
Jawad, who has served as Karzai's chief of staff and press secretary, urged a quick runoff to avoid many troubles in the central Asian Muslim country.
"If that's what it is, everyone should work very hard to make that happen,” he said.
"Four weeks will push it into early November and that's the latest that it will happen because after that it will be extremely cold, especially in northern Afghanistan.
He warned that delaying the runoff until the spring would be a “recipe for disaster”.
“This creates a lot of confusion, a lot of indecisiveness and also further complicated relations" with the outside world, he said.
According to the Washington Post, preparations are in full swing in Afghanistan for the election runoff.
Ballot papers have already arrived at the UN mission in Kabul, a US official in Afghanistan told the Post.
The necessary indelible ink is also on hand and polling station kits are expected to be readied for distribution this week, the daily said.
But fears are running high that a repeat of the fraudulent vote would further worsen the situation in the country.
"(It) definitely cuts both ways," said J. Alexander Thier of the US Institute of Peace.
"On the one hand, holding the runoff could clear away some of the problems and allegations of the first round that have tainted the process.
"But at the same time, there is obviously no guarantee" that a legitimate election could be organized in a few weeks or could avoid another cascade of allegations of abuse.
Presidential candidate Ashraf Ghani, however, sees the runoff as no solution.
"When legitimacy is called into question, repeating an election with the same people and the same institutions... becomes problematic," he told US public broadcaster PBS.
Source: IslamOnline
The probe, conducted by the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC), has reduced Karzai’s vote share to only 47 percent.
Preliminary results earlier gave Karzai 54.6 percent of the August 20, against 28 percent to his main rival Abdullah Abdullah.
Afghan Ambassador to the United States, Said Tayeb Jawad, also conceded that a runoff is most likely.
"A run-off is a likely scenario," Jawad said at the US Institute of Peace.
Karzai needs more than 50 percent of the vote to avoid election runoff.
Complaints have been surfacing on widespread fraud during the August ballot.
The ECC has ordered recounts at more than 2,500 polling stations, around 10 percent of the total, after it found "clear and convincing evidence of fraud".
EU observers also identified 1.5 million votes that could be fraudulent -- nearly a quarter of the total valid votes, and 1.1 of them cast for Karzai.
Full Swing
Jawad, who has served as Karzai's chief of staff and press secretary, urged a quick runoff to avoid many troubles in the central Asian Muslim country.
"If that's what it is, everyone should work very hard to make that happen,” he said.
"Four weeks will push it into early November and that's the latest that it will happen because after that it will be extremely cold, especially in northern Afghanistan.
He warned that delaying the runoff until the spring would be a “recipe for disaster”.
“This creates a lot of confusion, a lot of indecisiveness and also further complicated relations" with the outside world, he said.
According to the Washington Post, preparations are in full swing in Afghanistan for the election runoff.
Ballot papers have already arrived at the UN mission in Kabul, a US official in Afghanistan told the Post.
The necessary indelible ink is also on hand and polling station kits are expected to be readied for distribution this week, the daily said.
But fears are running high that a repeat of the fraudulent vote would further worsen the situation in the country.
"(It) definitely cuts both ways," said J. Alexander Thier of the US Institute of Peace.
"On the one hand, holding the runoff could clear away some of the problems and allegations of the first round that have tainted the process.
"But at the same time, there is obviously no guarantee" that a legitimate election could be organized in a few weeks or could avoid another cascade of allegations of abuse.
Presidential candidate Ashraf Ghani, however, sees the runoff as no solution.
"When legitimacy is called into question, repeating an election with the same people and the same institutions... becomes problematic," he told US public broadcaster PBS.
Source: IslamOnline
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