UN-backed fraud probe voids nearly a third of votes for Afghan President

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In Afghanistan, Investigators have thrown out nearly one third of the ballots cast for President Hamid Karzai. The result of the U.N.-backed electoral fraud investigation, may force Karzai into a runoff with his top challenger.

The findings of the Electoral Complaints Commission dropped Hamid Karzai down to 48 percent of the total vote.

This is below the 50 percent threshold needed to avoid a runoff with the incumbent's top challenger, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah.

Grant Kippen, Electoral Complaints Commission, said, "I don't think we were surprised that there were any irregularities, in the sense that this is a young democracy and these are only really the second complete elections."

Abdullah's spokesman welcomes the result of the investigation.

Fazal Sangcharaki, Spokesman for Abdullah, said, "Based on the calculation and findings from this report, Hamid Karzai's lead has now come down to 48.2 percent, and Abdullah Abdullah's total has gone up to 31.8 percent. This means that the election should now go into a second round."

An Afghan woman casts her ballot at a  polling station in Kabul. Fraud investigation  into Afghanistan's elections have cut  President Hamid Karzai's share of the vote  to 48 percent, below the threshold for outright victory, according to a US election monitor.(AFP/File/Massoud Hossaini)