Afghanistan to hold presidential runoff

Afghanistan will hold a second round runoff in its presidential election next month, Hamid Karzai and officials have confirmed.

Current president Mr Karzai said the runoff between himself and main challenger Abdullah Abdullah would take place on November 7th.

Yesterday a United Nations-backed commission invalidated ballots from 210 polling stations in the original August vote, which was hit by allegations of widespread fraud.

Initial results had awarded Mr Karzai the required 50 per cent to claim an outright victory, but the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) figures put that claim in doubt.

Afghanistan's own Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) and Mr Karzai himself have now accepted the need for a second vote.

Earlier reports had claimed Mr Karzai would set up a unity deal with Mr Abdullah to avoid the need for a runoff, which has sparked security fears over Taliban-led violence.

Ten British soldiers lost their lives in Operation Panther's Claw this summer, which was designed to clear areas of volatile Helmand province from Taliban influence to allow voters to get to polling stations.

It later emerged that only 40 votes were cast in an area that four soldiers died fighting for.