Afghans to head back to polls

President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan has accepted an independent electoral commission’s request for a run-off election, which will take place on Nov. 7. Afghans first headed to the polls way back on September 17; soon afterwards, Karzai claimed victory with 54.6 per cent of the vote. But a Canadian-led UN panel has found evidence of fraud at thousands of polling stations across the country and that Karzai got less than half of the votes. According to Afghan law, that means another election is required. With U.S. Senator and chair of the foreign relations committee John Kerry at his side, Karzai accepted the UN panel report on Tuesday, prompting Kerry to say the new election will be a “moment of great opportunity” for Afghanistan. The move came amidst mounting pressure to do so from the U.S., Canada and Britain, all of whom have troops stationed in Afghanistan.

CBC News