[The Peninsula] The final result of the presidential election held in Afghanistan over a month ago will be announced today, a day later than planned because of a high number of voter complaints, the election authorities said.Preliminary results late last month indicated no candidate would emerge with an absolute majority. If final results confirm the initial count, a run-off will be held between the two leading contenders, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah
... the former foreign minister of the Northern Alliance government, advisor to Masood, and candidate for president against Karzai. Dr. Abdullah was born in Kabul and is half Tadjik and half Pashtun...
and ex-World Bank economist Ashraf Ghani.
The final result would be announced today at 11.00am, IEC front man Noor Mohammad Noor said.
Failure of the complaints commission to submit its final report on time was the reason for the delay.
A front man for the commission said this was because it had been flooded with an unexpectedly high number of complaints, including over 900 classed serious enough to affect the outcome of the vote. "That's why it took longer," said Nader Mohseni.
This number exceeds the 815 recorded during the previous election held in 2009, when over a million votes were cast out as fraudulent.
A second round of voting was initially scheduled for May 28, but is now expected to be pushed back to mid-June if required.
The volume of complaints and subsequent delays has not dampened enthusiasm for the democratic process, widely seen as a success because of the high turn-out.
According to the commission's preliminary results, Abdullah finished top with 44.9 percent, followed by Ghani with 31.5 percent.
President Hamid
Maybe I'll join the TalibanKarzai
... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a
Pashtunface on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use...
was constitutionally barred from standing for a third term. His successor will face a range of challenges.