Karzai Gets 54% in Full but Uncertified Vote Tally...operative word...'uncertified'

[spanone]

KABUL (AP) -- Afghanistan's election commission released preliminary vote totals Wednesday showing President Hamid Karzai with 54.6 percent of the vote in the first full results to be released since the country's Aug. 20 election.

The election still has not been certified as final, though. A U.N.-backed complaints commission is examining thousands of potentially fraudulent ballots. If the commission invalidates enough votes, Karzai's returns could drop below 50 percent, forcing him into a two-man runoff with top challenger Abdullah Abdullah, who has 27.7 percent of the vote.

Fraud accusations have tainted the election. A U.N.-backed group investigating fraud has ordered a massive audit and recount of about 10 percent of the country's voting stations.

A European Union monitoring team, meanwhile, said Wednesday that about 1.5 million ballots of the 5.6 million cast have indications of fraud, using indicators such as overly high turnout or a preponderance of votes for one candidate.

Final, certified results cannot be released until all investigations, audits and recounts are finished, meaning results from the fraud-tainted election are likely weeks away. The longer the count takes, the more likely it becomes that any potential runoff will be delayed until spring; winter snows, due in November, often block roads and isolate villages in the mountainous country, making an election logistically difficult.

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/09/16/world/AP-AS-Afghan-Election.html?ref=global-home

[ShortnFiery]

1. Congratulations for the re-election of The Mayor of Kabul.