KABUL – Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission (IEC) cancelled on Monday, November 2, a one-man presidential run-off, declaring incumbent Hamid Karzai the winner of the presidential elections. "We declare that Mr Hamid Karzai, who won the majority of votes in the first round, and is the only candidate in the second round, is the elected president of Afghanistan," IEC Chairman Azizullah Ludin told reporters.
The decision came one day after presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah, who earned just over 30 percent in the first round election voting, withdrew from the November 7 runoff.
The former foreign minister pulled out of the race after Karzai declined to meet his demands, including the sacking of the IEC leadership that ran the fraud-marred first round in August.
The IEC initially said the run-off would take place as scheduled on Saturday, saying the deadline for Abdullah to withdraw had passed.
But following a meeting Monday between Karzai and visiting UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the IEC decided to cancel the runoff.
Ludin said the move goes in line with the provisions of the electoral law and constitution and is "consistent with the high interest of the Afghan people".
He said the decision was also taken to save money, citing "the huge expense that the election requires" and for security reasons.
The IEC chief said the decision will "prevent uncertainty which creates a lot of challenges to stability and security in the country."
Taliban had threatened to target the run-off.
Some believe the cancellation of the runoff would cast doubts on the legitimacy of Karzai’s new term.
"Karzai has lost his legitimacy," Haroun Mir, a political analyst, told Reuters.
"He is a very weak president and he cannot govern without reaching out to Dr Abdullah. So the ball is in Dr Abdullah's court right now."
Karzai was installed to head a transitional administration set up when the US-led overthrew the ruling Taliban regime in 2001.
He won a five-year term in Afghanistan's first presidential elections in October 2004.
But Karzai has been under fire over failure to act to fight corruption plaguing the country.
Transparency International, a German organization that gauges honesty in government, ranked Afghanistan 176 out of 180 countries in 2008.
"We’re going to know in the next three to six months whether he’s doing anything differently," a senior aide to President Barack Obama told The New York Times.
"Whether he can seriously address the corruption, whether he can raise an army that ultimately can take over from us and that doesn’t lose troops as fast as we train them."
A weakened Karzai government would be a blow for Obama as he considers a new strategy to fight the resurgent Taliban.
"Needless to say, this is not where we wanted to be after nine months," said the Obama aide.
The US president is expected to make a decision on war commander General Stanley McChrystal's request for 40,000 more counter-insurgency troops.
Source: IslamOnline
The decision came one day after presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah, who earned just over 30 percent in the first round election voting, withdrew from the November 7 runoff.
The former foreign minister pulled out of the race after Karzai declined to meet his demands, including the sacking of the IEC leadership that ran the fraud-marred first round in August.
The IEC initially said the run-off would take place as scheduled on Saturday, saying the deadline for Abdullah to withdraw had passed.
But following a meeting Monday between Karzai and visiting UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the IEC decided to cancel the runoff.
Ludin said the move goes in line with the provisions of the electoral law and constitution and is "consistent with the high interest of the Afghan people".
He said the decision was also taken to save money, citing "the huge expense that the election requires" and for security reasons.
The IEC chief said the decision will "prevent uncertainty which creates a lot of challenges to stability and security in the country."
Taliban had threatened to target the run-off.
Some believe the cancellation of the runoff would cast doubts on the legitimacy of Karzai’s new term.
"Karzai has lost his legitimacy," Haroun Mir, a political analyst, told Reuters.
"He is a very weak president and he cannot govern without reaching out to Dr Abdullah. So the ball is in Dr Abdullah's court right now."
Karzai was installed to head a transitional administration set up when the US-led overthrew the ruling Taliban regime in 2001.
He won a five-year term in Afghanistan's first presidential elections in October 2004.
But Karzai has been under fire over failure to act to fight corruption plaguing the country.
Transparency International, a German organization that gauges honesty in government, ranked Afghanistan 176 out of 180 countries in 2008.
"We’re going to know in the next three to six months whether he’s doing anything differently," a senior aide to President Barack Obama told The New York Times.
"Whether he can seriously address the corruption, whether he can raise an army that ultimately can take over from us and that doesn’t lose troops as fast as we train them."
A weakened Karzai government would be a blow for Obama as he considers a new strategy to fight the resurgent Taliban.
"Needless to say, this is not where we wanted to be after nine months," said the Obama aide.
The US president is expected to make a decision on war commander General Stanley McChrystal's request for 40,000 more counter-insurgency troops.
Source: IslamOnline
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