Runoff election likely, Afghan ambassador says

October 16, 2009|Anne Gearan, Associated Press

WASHINGTON - A runoff vote is very likely between incumbent Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his closest challenger in the country’s highly contested election, Karzai’s ambassador to the United States said yesterday.

Said Tayeb Jawad predicted the runoff would follow an announcement expected within days by the UN-backed electoral commission looking into fraud in the August election.

The ambassador is the first official from Karzai’s government to predict publicly that the challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, will have enough support to force a runoff. Jawad said all sides should work hard to hold the runoff vote swiftly, ideally within a month.

A two-week deadline mandated in the country’s constitution is impossible, Jawad said. He worried that if the deadline slipped far into November, it will be too cold in parts of the country. Voters in Afghanistan, a country of great distances and few roads, often must travel long distances.

Jawad spoke at the US Institute of Peace.

“To delay until spring is a recipe for disaster,’’ Jawad said, because Afghanistan needs clear leadership. Delay would also undermine the Afghan government’s relationship with the United States, he said.

The UN-backed Electoral Complaints Commission, which is tasked with determining how many fraudulent votes to toss out, could release its findings as early as tomorrow.

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