Fraud probe delays Afghan poll result declaration
Interim leader Hamid Karzai has won a majority of estimated votes cast in Afghanistan’s landmark presidential elections, according to preliminary results released today.
However, Karzai has not been declared the winner.
An expert panel is still reviewing allegations of electoral fraud levelled by other candidates, and it may take another week for the announcement of official results.
Karzai has won 4,105,122 votes, more than half of the estimated 8,114,071 valid votes cast in the vote on October 9. He must gain more than 50 per cent of the votes to win the election outright and avoid a runoff against his closest challenger.
Some 7,473,059 valid votes have been counted so far, with Karzai currently at 54.9 per cent, 38.5 points ahead of his nearest rival, Yunus Qanooni.
It is possible that more votes were actually cast than the current estimate, but barring a near-reversal in the current pattern of results, the changes would not be enough to drop Karzai under the 50% mark.
The estimate of total number of valid votes cast is based on a projection given by the joint UN-Afghan election board on its website of the total turnout, adjusted to deduct the forecast proportion of spoiled ballots.
Electoral officials have said they will not call the election until the investigation into the fraud allegations and the vote count are both complete.
