Afghan voters all but certain to go back to polls

KABUL: Fraud investigators have thrown out hundreds of thousands of ballots for Afghanistan's president from the country's disputed August election. The report sets the stage for a runoff between him and his top challenger.

A UN-backed panel yesterday released its findings after nearly two months of investigations. Investigators did not provide exact figures.

International officials said the panel determined that President Hamid Karzai's total fell below the 50 percent needed for outright victory. But a separate commission has yet to accept the findings and call for a second-round vote. That commission had questioned some of the findings.