It's looking more and more like there will be an election run-off in Afghanistan between incumbent President Hamid Karzai and his main challenger, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah.
The Times of London is reporting that Karzai has told security and elections officials to prepare for a second round of voting.
On Morning Edition, NPR's Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson reported that Karzai's campaign spokesman said the president no longer opposes a run-off:
Still, there hasn't yet been any official announcement from Karzai. Reuters says he will be speaking later today.
Yesterday, a United Nations-backed watchdog group declared that hundreds of thousands of votes for Karzai in the Aug. 20 election were fraudulent. And, the Associated Press writes, "international monitoring groups say the Electoral Complaints Commission has invalidated so many of Karzai's votes that his total has dropped below the more than 50% he needed for an outright victory."
The AP adds this morning that Abdullah is suggesting that an interim government be formed — which would include him — until a new election can be held in the spring. Holding a vote during Afghanistan's rough winter could be difficult.
Also on Morning Edition, a former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan said forming a unity government may be a more practical option than a run-off election.
Update at 8:10 a.m. ET: CNN reports that the independent elections commission has set Nov. 7, a Saturday, as the date for the run-off. Karzai, with Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, is speaking with reporters now in Kabul. We'll have more in a moment.
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