Karzai may face run-off vote with Abdullah

The chance of a run-off to end Afghanistan's political crisis has increased after Electoral Complaints Commission shows that almost 1.3 million votes are invalid.

The UN-backed Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) fraud watchdog submitted a long-awaited ruling on voting irregularities in the Afghan August poll on Monday, calling for the invalidation of ballots from 210 polling stations.

Democracy International, a US election monitor, noted that based on the figures released by the ECC, Karzai's share of the vote, from about 55 percent in the preliminary results, has been trimmed to 48 percent, below the threshold for an outright victory.

The ECC said in a statement that the Afghan election authorities were now "responsible for adjusting candidates' vote totals, in accordance with the ECC decision, before certifying the final result."

Preliminary figures by Afghanistan's own Independent Election Commission gave President Hamid Karzai 54.6 percent of the votes and Abdullah Abdullah 28 percent.

Under the Afghan law, the Independent Election Commission must accept the ECC findings, adjust the election tally, and announce the concluding outcome.

The Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan had earlier voiced reservations about the interference of foreign nations and the UN in the election process of the country, insisting that the Afghan Commission is well able to sort out the voting irregularities and come up with an accurate count.

It is widely believed that Western nations, which have deployed their forces in Afghanistan as part of the NATO force, favor Abdullah Abdullah for the Afghan presidency and have insisted on second round elections ever since the tallies pointed to a Karzai victory.

A number of Western leaders have recently visited Afghanistan to ensure that the Karzai government won't resist a second round election, a difficult and risky task amid worsening weather conditions in the rugged territories of the country, not to mention the deteriorating security situation.