Kabul: The chief of Afghanistan’s Election Commission secretariat Ziaul Haq Omarkhil announced his resignation amid allegations of election fraud in the June 14 runoff presidential vote by presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah.
Abdullah accused Omarkhil of fraud and vote rigging in favour of his contender Ashraf Ghani in the June 14 presidential runoff and called for suspension of Omarkhil from duty last week, Xinhua reported.
Abdullah, who secured 45 percent of some seven million votes in the first round of April 5 presidential poll against his rival Ashraf Ghani, who obtained 31.6 percent of votes, urged the Election Commission to immediately stop vote counting.
While rejecting all allegations as baseless, Omarkhil said that he resigned for the larger national interests and not under pressure.