Karzai awaits decision from election commission

Kabul: The campaign spokesman of President Hamid Karzai, Waheed Omar, says the president is waiting for the Afghan-led Independent Election Commission to decide whether to accept the findings that dropped Karzai's vote share to 48 per cent of the total below the 50 per cent threshold needed for him to avoid a runoff.

The original vote count gave Karzai 54 per cent. The UN-backed Electoral Complaints Commission earlier Monday dropped Karzai's votes to 48 per cent.

Once the Afghan-led Independent Election Commission has accepted and certified the findings of that body, the findings have force of law and the Karzai campaign would comply, Omar said.

Karzai's camp had complained about the UN-backed panel of three foreigners and two Afghans, saying foreigners were unfairly influencing the outcome.