‘U.S. will wait for final election results in Afghanistan’

Afghan Election Commission Secretariat Dawod Ali Najafi announces the final result during a press conference, in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Wednesday. Photo: AP.

With preliminary results suggesting a win for incumbent Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan’s presidential polls, the Obama Administration today said it would wait for the final results of the August 20 elections.

“These certified results will only come after the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) and the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) have carried out their investigations thoroughly and done all the required audits and recounts,” State Department spokesman Ian Kelly said.

The US has taken note of the preliminary results of the presidential elections, Kelly said, adding: “But I want to re-emphasise that these are just preliminary, they’re not final, and we’re still waiting for the certified results.”

The Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan yesterday announced the complete preliminary results according to which Mr. Karzai emerged as elected with 54.62 per cent of the votes, followed by a Abdullah Abdullah with 27.75 per cent.

As per Afghan constitution, any candidate getting 50 per cent plus one vote would be declared elected; otherwise the election would go into the second phase wherein the top two candidates would have to go for voting again.