Vote setback for Karzai,runoff likely

UN-Backed fraud investigators threw out hundreds of thousands of votes for Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai in the countrys disputed...

UN-Backed fraud investigators threw out hundreds of thousands of votes for Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai in the countrys disputed August election,according to a report released on Monday. The findings set the stage for a runoff between him and his top challenger,former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah.

It was unclear,however,whether the Afghan-led Independent Election Commission would accept the findings of the fraud panel and announce a runoff. Karzais spokesman said it was too soon to make a judgment based on the figures released by the panel. That could mean a further delay in forming a new government that the US believes is needed to help combat the growing Taliban insurgency. A protracted crisis could also lead to political unrest.

The White House has also said no decision on sending more US troops to Afghanistan would be made before the election crisis is resolved.

US Sen. John Kerry,chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,who was among the international envoys in Kabul at the weekend urging the President to accept the fraud rulings,returned Monday to resume meetings with Karzai,the US Embassy said.

Two international officials familiar with the investigation by the UN-backed Electoral Complaints Commission said the findings showed Karzai falling below the 50 per cent threshold needed to avoid a runoff.

An independent calculation by an election monitoring group,Democracy International,showed Karzai with 48.3 per cent,or about 2.1 million votes,after more than 995,000 of his votes were thrown out for fraud.

Preliminary results released last month showed Karzai winning the August 20 election with more than 54 per cent. However,allegations of fraud prompted the investigation.

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Abdullah campaign spokesman Fazel Sancharaki welcomed the fraud panels findings. This is a step forward,now it is up to the IEC to announce the final results, he said.

Karzai campaign spokesman Waheed Omar said,I dont think we can make any judgment based on the figures announced today.