The second round was required after a U.N.-backed investigation into the vote found widespread fraud and a third of Mr.Karzai's ballots were declared invalid, reversing his outright victory.

VOA: standard.2009.10.28

But the U.N.-backed Electoral Complaints Commission examined more than 2,500 allegations of fraud including phantom polling stations, ballot-stuffing and police intimidation and declared a third of Mr.Karzai's ballots invalid, reversing his outright victory.

VOA: standard.2009.10.20

Notably, in the Sunday vote, just 12% of voters abstained or cast blank or invalid ballots, generally indicating support for none of the candidates, though in the polls, a far higher 21% rejected all the candidates.

WSJ: Leung Chun-Ying Selected as Hong Kong Chief Executive

The other former mayor running is Xavier Suarez, who defeated Carollo in 1997 but was forced from office four months later in a voting scandal in which absentee ballots in the election were declared invalid.

CNN: New York, other major U.S. cities look for new stewards