No presidential runoff, Afghan official says (1st Lead)

Nov 2, 2009, 10:40 GMT

   Kabul - Afghanistan will not hold a presidential runoff scheduled for the weekend, an official with the Independent Election Commission said Monday after one of the two candidates pulled out of the race.

   'Have you ever seen anywhere in the world an election with one person standing?' asked the official who asked not to be named.

   He said the commission has a constitutional mandate to decide on the runoff, which was to be held Saturday, and announce the results of the election.

   After former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah withdrew from the race Sunday, President Hamid Karzai was left as the sole candidate.

   The first-round voting on August 20 was marred by massive fraud, mostly in favour of Karzai, and Abdullah said he was ending his campaign after Karzai did not accept his conditions for bringing transparency to the runoff.

   Abdullah, however, did not question the legitimacy of Karzai's future government and said that he was open for talks on forming the new government, which could involve his supporters taking part in the administration.

   Political analysts said they believe Karzai must make concessions to Abdullah's camp to achieve a compromise.