Afghan Election - Karzai widens lead with 17% of vote counted.

by albertacowpoke | August 26, 2009 at 03:42 pm

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The Independent Election Committee has released further results of the Afghanistan election today. With 17% of the vote counted, President Karzai has widen his lead over his opponent, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah.

The results released on Wednesday show that Karzai has received 44.8% of the vote so far. His opponent Abdullah trails with 35.1%. This result is based on 17% of the ballots counted.

To avoid a run off election one of the candidates must take at least 50%. The voter turn out has been extremely low for this election, with only 33% of eligible voters casting a ballot.

Abudullah has accused President Karzai of voter fraud and ballot stuffing.

The Independent Election Commission said that it would continue releasing preliminary election results daily.

Will the end result be enough to avoid a run off election?

Incumbent Afghan President Hamid Karzai's bid for re-election is improving, as newly released election results show his lead increasing over rival candidate Abdullah Abdullah.

The country's Independent Election Commission released further results Wednesday showing Karzai taking 44.8 per cent of the ballots counted so far, compared to 35.1 per cent for Abdullah, the country's former foreign minister.

But only 17 per cent of the ballots have been counted as of Wednesday.