Afghan president accepts vote fraud findings

Afghan President Hamid Karzai said on Tuesday that a decision by Afghan election authorities to hold a second round run-off in November was legal and constitutional.

"We believe that this decision of the IEC (Independent Election Commission) is legitimate, legal and constitutional and that it strengthens the path towards domocracy," Karzai said in remarks televised live on Afghan television.

An election official, meanwhile, announced Karzai's share of the vote in the first round of the country's presidential election fell to 49.67 percent after fraud investigations.

"Karzai is 49.67 percent," Noor Mohammad Noor, spokesman for the Independent Election Commission (IEC), told AFP.

By dropping below the 50 percent threshold needed for outright victory, Karzai has triggered a second-round run-off, which will be held on Nov. 7.

The IEC was due to announce the final results of the country's controversial presidential election amid mounting global pressure for a final result in the vote.

The heavily disputed Aug. 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.

Western sources have said that Karzai is likely to accept a second round verdict by the IEC.

Analysts say Karzai -- who is a Pashtun, Afghanistan's largest ethnic group -- is likely to win a runoff, 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."

Our commissioners are currently in a meeting and when the meeting is finished we will make our announcement of the final results

Spokesman Noor Mohammad Noor