Afghan election heads step down

The head of Afghanistan's election commission and his deputy, are stepping down from their posts. President Hamid Karzai's chief spokesman, announced their decision Wednesday.

The move is supposed to help placate Western concerns over possible fraudulant behaviour ahead of a parliamentary election in September.

Karzai is wrangling with parliament and the United Nations over how the election should be run. A fraud watchdog overturned his first-round victory in a presidential election, last year.

Karzai was declared the victor anyway in November when his opponent backed out of the second run-off, but the three-month stand-off battered his reputation in the West.

Independent Election Commission chairman Azizullah Ludin during a press conference in Kabul in November 2009. (AFP/File/Nicolas Asfouri)