KABUL (PAN): As was widely expected, President Hamid Karzai has extended his lead to 54.1 percent in the August 20 presidential elections, obviating the need for a run-off poll.
His closest rival Dr. Abdullah is in the second slot with 28.3 percent of the ballots tallied until Tuesday, according to latest figures released by the Independent Election Commission.
A senior IEC official said ballots from more than 90 percent of polling stations had been calculated. Hamed Karzai has won 2,959,093, Dr. Abdullah 1,546,490 and Ramazan Bashardost 505,347 (9.2 percent).
Chief Electoral Officer Daud Ali Najafi announced the partial returns at a news conference here. The final outcome of the second direct presidential polls is to be unveiled in mid-September.
Ex-finance minister Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, in the fourth slot, has 147,761 votes (2.7 percent), followed by Mirwais Yasini with 47,458 (0.9 percent).
Shahnawaz Tanai has polled 32,196 ballots, Dr. Habib Mangal 23,199, Dr. Frozan Fana 23,030, Mulla Abdul Salam Rakity 21,119 and Motasim Billah Mazhabi 19,345.
Approximately 22,551 of 24,621 (91.6) percent of polling stations have been tallied as of Sep. 8. The number of total votes calculated is 5,719,796, with valid ballots standing at 5,469,289.
Najafi told journalists that invalid votes were 169,317. As many as 81,190 votes were cast for the candidates who had opted out of the presidential race.
Also on Tuesday, the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) ordered an audit and recount of votes at polling stations where it believed irregularities were committed in the polls.
Without explaining how many would need to be recounted, the UN-backed election watchdog claimed on it had found "clear and convincing evidence" of fraud in a number of polling stations.
It said returns must be recounted and audited for any polling station where more than 600 votes were cast, or where any candidate received more than 95 percent of the ballots if more than 100 valid votes were cast.
In a statement, the ECC noted the overwhelming majority of polling stations, where it found fraud, had a number of ballots cast that were far in excess of what could be expected based on credible observer reports of low voter turnout.
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