KABUL, Afghanistan, Sept. 8 (UPI) -- Afghan election officials should move forward with efforts to reach a "final and just outcome" for the election, the top U.N. official said Tuesday.
The Independent Election Committee of Afghanistan reports that with 91.6 percent of the polling stations tallied, incumbent President Hamid Karzai has 54.1 percent of the vote. His closest rival, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, is second with just 28.3 percent.
The Afghan Electoral Complaints Commission on Tuesday, however, ordered a partial recount of the ballots for the Aug. 20 presidential contest. It cited "clear and convincing" evidence of fraud in the elections, noting an "exceptional" number of votes cast "in relation to the number of ballots available."
The international community heaped praise on Afghanistan in the days following the Aug. 20 vote, though allegations of fraud surfaced almost immediately.
Nonetheless, Kai Eide, the U.N. special envoy to Afghanistan, called on the IEC and EEC to "redouble" efforts to reach an official vote tally.
"All of us are keen to see the processes move forward without delay so that a final and just outcome is arrived at," he said. "This includes excluding from the preliminary count results from ballot boxes where there is evidence of irregularities."
The EEC, for its part, ordered the IEC to conduct a recount for polling stations that had a turnout greater than 100 percent and for polling stations where any one candidate received more than 95 percent of the vote.
The official results were expected Sept. 17, though it is unclear if the EEC order will affect that deadline.
