Afghan election commission declares Karzai winner

The cancellation of Saturday’s vote came one day after former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah announced he was pulling out less than a week before the Nov 7 vote. Abdullah said the ballot would not have been fair and accused the Karzai-appointed Independent Election Commission of bias.

The annulment is a huge relief to organisers who were scrambling to hold the election before the onset of Afghanistan’s harsh winter,as well as authorities who feared a wave of bloody violence on polling day after a Taliban spokesman threatened attacks against anyone who took part.

Independent Election Commission chairman Azizullah Lodin announced Karzai the winner during a news conference in Kabul.

“His excellency Hamid Karzai,who has won the majority of votes in the first round and is the only candidate for the second round,is declared by the Independent Election Commission as the elected president of Afghanistan,” Lodin said.

Karzai has led Afghanistan since US forces invaded to oust the Taliban in 2001. He won elections in 2004 and his latest victory will give him another five-year mandate.

The US will have to find a way to work with the Afghan leader,who has fallen out of favour in Washington after openly criticising US military tactics,including the heavy use of air power that has killed many civilians.

The mass ballot-box stuffing that characterised the Aug. 20 vote further sullied Karzai’s reputation. Fraud investigators threw out nearly a third of Karzai’s votes,dropping him below the 50 per cent threshold needed to win outright.

Worried that Karzai’s government would not be seen as legitimate,a bevy of international figures,including U.S. Sen. John Kerry,US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown,pressed Karzai to consent to a runoff.

But today,UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon,who was in Kabul on a surprise visit,welcomed the decision to forego the runoff and congratulated Karzai.

“This has been a difficult election process for Afghanistan,and lessons must be learned,” said Ban.

“Afghanistan now faces significant challenges and the new president must move swiftly to form a government that is able to command the support of both the Afghan people and the international community.”