Karzai declared Afghan election winner (3rd Lead)

Nov 2, 2009, 12:02 GMT

Supporters of Afghan President Hamid Karzai celebrate in Herat, western Afghanistan on 02 November 2009. Afghan election commission on November 02, announced in Kabul that it had cancelled the second round of voting and declared Karzai president for the next five years, after the pullout of Karzai\'s challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, from November 07 planned runoff election. EPA/JALIL REZAYEE

   Kabul - The Afghan Independent Election Commission on Monday declared incumbent Hamid Karzai the winner of the presidential election after his challenger pulled out of the coming weekend's runoff.

   The commission cancelled Saturday's second round of voting and declared Karzai president for the next five years, Chairman Azizullah Ludin announced in Kabul.

   Ludin said the commission came to the decision because a runoff was unnecessary with only one candidate remaining, Karzai had won the most votes in the first round on August 20 and the constitution mandates that a runoff be held between two candidates.

   The commission also hoped to avoid insurgent attacks and the expense of a runoff, he said.

   Karzai's challenger, his former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, withdrew from the race Sunday.

   The first round 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's decision to withdraw led to Karzai being declared the winner, but it also cast doubt over the legitimacy of his future administration.

   The Afghan constitution failed to anticipate a situation in which a candidate pulls out of a runoff, and officials had said they believed the Election Commission or the Supreme Court would have to come up with a ruling to legitimize the future government.

   A commission official insisted Monday that his agency has a constitutional mandate to decide on the runoff and announce the results of the election.

   Abdullah himself did not question the legitimacy of Karzai's future government and said 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.

   In the meantime, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said the world body would back the decision by the commission, or IEC.

   'I am sure that the due process and observance of the law will prevail and the Afghan IEC will apply constitutionally correct procedures,' Ban said, shortly before the commission declared Karzai the winner.

   Ban, who arrived Monday on an unannounced visit to Kabul, said the August voting in the war-torn country was among the most difficult elections the United Nations had supported, taking place amid Taliban attacks and infrastructure shortcomings.

   The Taliban vowed to disrupt the runoff as well and claimed responsibility for an attack Wednesday in which militants, equipped with suicide vests and automatic rifles, stormed a UN guesthouse in downtown Kabul, killing five UN international staff and three Afghans. It claimed it was the beginning of their anti-election campaign.

   Initially, both Karzai's camp and the commission had said the runoff would go ahead despite Abdullah's decision, but Western officials said the international community, which provided funds and security for the election, was not willing to support a one-man election.

   'There is no appetite on the part of international community for the second round of the elections,' said a Western official who declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue.

   He said it would be 'ridiculous' to spend money and risk lives for a process in which the outcome is already known.

   Karzai garnered more than 54 per cent of the ballots in the August election, a percentage that made him an outright winner, but a UN-backed investigation discounted about 1 million, or a third, of his ballots and pushed him into a runoff with Abdullah, his nearest rival.