Weather could delay possible Afghan election runoff

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The chief electoral official of the Afghan election commission, Daoud Ali Najafi, says Afghanistan has a two-week window to hold a presidential runoff before winter sets in. Preliminary results from Afghanistan's August 20th election show President Hamid Karzai winning outright with 54.6 percent of the vote.

However, numerous fraud charges are being investigated. If enough votes are thrown out, Karzai could dip below the 50 percent threshold needed to avoid a runoff with leading challenger Abdullah Abdullah. Najafi said it would be nearly impossible to hold a poll after October because of winter snows.

A runoff has seemed increasingly likely as independent analysis showed indications of fraud. Najafi said he was hopeful that final results would be determined with enough time to avoid a runoff this fall, but added that it was not worth compromising the integrity of the vote by rushing the process.