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Afghan election commission orders runoff

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-10-20 20:54

KABUL: Afghanistan's election commission has ordered a runoff election for Nov 7 after a fraud investigation dropped President Hamid Karzai's votes below 50 percent of the total.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai speaks during a news conference in Kabul October 20, 2009.[Agencies]

Karzai accepted the fraud panel finding in a press conference and endorsed a runoff election.

The chairman of the Independent Election Commission, Azizullah Lodin, said the commission did not want to "leave the people of Afghanistan in uncertainty" any longer.

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"The commission is agreed to go to a second round and say that nobody got more than 50 percent," Lodin said. Afghan electoral law says a runoff is needed if no candidate gets above that percentage.

Lodin said all the materials are ready for the runoff.