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| Afghanistan | |
| Chief rivals both declare victory in Afghan vote | |
| 2009-08-22 | |
"Initial results show that the president has got a majority," Karzai's campaign manager Deen Mohammad told Reuters, although he said it was the duty of the election commission to announce the official results. "We will not go to a second round. We have got a majority." Mohammahttp://rantburg.com/editArticle.php?E=277174#d said the estimate of victory was based on reports from nearly 29,000 monitors the campaign had at polling stations throughout the country. But a spokesman for his chief rival, Abdullah Abdullah, dismissed the claim. "It isn't true," said Fazl Sangcharaki. "We also say, 'Maybe we don't need a second round and Abdullah has won.'" "The results that we have received from our observers from the sites tells us, as we speak, we have 63 percent, Hamid Karzai has 31 percent," Sancharaki told AFP by telephone. "This is not a final result. We are still receiving more results from our people on the ground. We might be done by tomorrow," he added Polls conducted before the election showed Karzai in the lead but suggested he might be headed for a run-off against Abdullah, a former foreign minister with strong support in the north. | |
| Posted by:Fred |