KABUL: Afghanistan’s chief electoral officer resigned Monday in a bid to resolve a political crisis over allegations of massive fraud in the runoff presidential vote earlier this month.

Zia ul-Haq Amarkhail told reporters that he denies any involvement in fraud but he is stepping down “for the national interest.”

The standoff has threatened what Western officials had hoped would be a peaceful transfer of authority to show progress as US and allied forces wind down their combat mission. The international community has scrambled to find a way out of the impasse, with the UN saying it stands ready to assist.

Whoever wins will lead the country as it faces a major transition from rule by President Hamid Karzai, the only leader it has known since the 2001 US-led invasion that ousted the Taleban. He also will face a strong challenge to end violence and improve the economy as he faces a resilient Taleban insurgency and declining foreign aid. Both candidates have promised to sign a security pact with the Obama administration that would allow nearly 10,000 American forces to remain in the country in a training capacity and to conduct counterterrorism operations. A disruption in the announcement of election results could mean another delay in finalyzing that agreement.

One of the two candidates, Abdullah Abdullah has said his campaign monitors had recorded ballot box stuffing and other irregularities.


He suspended cooperation with the vote counting process and demanded Amarkhail be suspended, claiming the electoral official helped engineer the vote-rigging.

Abdullah received news of Amarkhail’s resignation as he was holding a news conference.

“The door is now open for us to talk to the commission and talk about the conditions and circumstances that will help the process,” he said. “We do believe in transparency of the process and we will defend the legitimacy of the process.”