Afghan officials today declared Hamid Karzai the winner of the country's disputed presidential poll after cancelling a planned runoff election. The announcement came after Karzai's main challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, dropped out of the race on the grounds that the vote would not be free or fair. Full Story »
Posted by Derek Hawkins - via The Guardian (US)
Karzai faced unenviable choices after Abdullah’s withdrawal. Either he went ahead and won a mandate based on a second round which was likely to attract even fewer participants than the first vote in August, or he could be appointed as leader without the 50% of votes the constitution says are required. Senior diplomats had privately said they did not want to risk troops’ lives to protect another election. They said there was enough ambiguity in Afghanistan’s constitution to allow the country’s supreme court to rule a second round unnecessary and that Karzai should be elected on the basis that he received the highest number of votes in the first.
A legitimate Afghan leader is seen as essential to western war aims, and the lack of a credible result has prevented the US president, Barack Obama, from being able to make a decision on whether to send up to 40,000 more troops to Afghanistan. Britain and the US both welcomed the cancellation of the runoff. A Downing Street spokesman said Gordon Brown had telephoned Karzai to congratulate him on his victory.
A legitimate Afghan leader is seen as essential to western war aims, and the lack of a credible result has prevented the US president, Barack Obama, from being able to make a decision on whether to send up to 40,000 more troops to Afghanistan. Britain and the US both welcomed the cancellation of the runoff. A Downing Street spokesman said Gordon Brown had telephoned Karzai to congratulate him on his victory.
