Afghanistan’s election runoff ‘likely’ as officials cite thousands of complaints

Afghanistan’s Electoral Complaints Commission said on Monday that the presidential election might go to a second round. The statement comes as officials begin reviewing thousands of complaints a day after the preliminary result handed incumbent president Ashraf Ghani a narrow victory, Reuters said.

The Independent Election Commission (IEC) announced on Sunday a much delayed preliminary result of the September 28 presidential vote. It was marred by allegations of massive fraud, technical problems with biometric devices used for voting, attacks and irregularities.

IEC said the total turnout was over 1.8 million with Ghani securing 50.64 percent to win the first round of voting, beating Abdullah Abdullah, who currently shares power with him in a unity government.

If a review by the complaints commission reduces Ghani’s vote share to below 50 percent and no other candidate has a majority, a second round will be held between the top two contenders.