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Karzai likely to agree run-off election
Tue Oct 20, 2009 3:32am EDT
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By Sayed Salahuddin and Adam Entous
KABUL/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Hamid Karzai, under intense global pressure, looked set to agree to a run-off in Afghanistan's disputed election on Tuesday after a U.N.-backed panel rejected as fraudulent tens of thousands of his votes.
Official confirmation of a second round now depends on Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission, which is assessing the U.N.-backed Electoral Complaints Commission's (ECC) findings and using them to recalculate its original tallies for the poll.
The heavily disputed August 20 vote has fanned tension between Karzai and the West and complicated U.S. President Barack Obama's decision on whether to send thousands more U.S. troops to Afghanistan to fight a resurgent Taliban.
The U.S. group Democracy International said the ECC report showed the number of votes invalidated by the U.N.-backed group pushed Karzai's total below the 50 percent needed to avoid a run-off. Provisional results had given Karzai 54.6 percent.
If the election does go to a second round, analysts have said Karzai -- who is a Pashtun, Afghanistan's largest ethnic group -- is likely to win, but the scale of fraud alleged in the first round may continue to cast a shadow over the legitimacy of his rule.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said she expected word from Karzai on Tuesday and hoped for a quick solution.
"I am going to let him do that but I am encouraged at the direction that the situation is moving," Clinton told reporters. "I am very hopeful that we will see a resolution in line with the constitutional order in the next several days."
Karzai indicated in private meetings this week, including with Senator John Kerry, he would be open to taking part in a run-off with his main challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, but did not commit to a specific timetable, Western sources told Reuters.
But officials cautioned that Karzai could still change his mind and there was likely to be intense political haggling.
The United States cannot wait for problems surrounding the Afghan government's legitimacy to be resolved before making a decision on troops, U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said late on Monday.
However other Obama administration officials have said there must be a legitimate and credible partner in place in Kabul for any new Afghan strategy to succeed.
Casualties are rising among the 68,000 U.S. troops already in Afghanistan and many Americans are tiring of war.
The U.S. and NATO commander in Afghanistan, General Stanley McChrystal, has recommended sending 40,000 additional soldiers to seize the initiative back from Taliban militants.
ALL EYES ON IEC
Democracy International and the Washington-based U.S. Institute of Peace both said the UN-backed ECC's audit showed Karzai had about 48.3 percent of the vote. Abdullah's total rose to about 31 percent from 28 percent. Continued...
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