Afghan election commission orders runoff

President Hamid Karzai.

Afghanistan’s election commission has ordered a runoff election for Nov. 7 after a fraud investigation dropped President Hamid Karzai’s votes below 50 per cent of the total.

Mr. 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.

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

Mr. Lodin said all the materials are ready for the runoff.