Independent commission says Afghani vote rigged

"While investigating complaints the commission has found clear and convincing evidence of fraud and falsification," the UN-backed commission said in a statement.

The Electoral Complaints Commission said that at many polling stations the turnout exceeded the overall number of voters. In addition, most of the polling stations, where one of the candidates won an outright majority, were located in areas with low turnout.

It ordered a vote recount at the stations where the turnout was exceptionally high or where one of the candidates received more than 95% of the vote.

The official results of the vote are due on September 17. Afghani election officials have earlier announced that with 91.6% of the vote counted, the incumbent president Hamid Karzai received 54.1% of the vote, which enables him to avoid the runoff. His main election rival, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, scored 28.3%, Kazinform cites RIA Novosti. See www.en.rian.ru for full version.