Karzai 'stripped of outright win'

Kabul, 19 Oct-(ANA)-A panel probing fraud claims in the Afghan election has found Hamid Karzai did not gain enough valid votes for an outright win, media reports say.

Preliminary results from August's first round had placed Mr Karzai comfortably over the 50% plus one vote threshold needed to avoid a run-off.

There are reports that Mr Karzai's vote share has fallen below half, after a number of votes were ruled invalid.

Under poll rules, Mr Karzai now faces a runoff against rival Abdullah Abdullah.

In its much-anticipated report on Monday, the UN-backed Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) ordered that ballots from 210 polling stations be discounted. (ANA)

FA/ANA/19 October 2009---