Via VOA News -
Afghanistan's Election Commission has declared President Hamid Karzai the winner of the country's disputed election after canceling a second round of voting.
The commission chief Azizullah Ludin said Monday President Karzai would keep his post because he was the winner of the first round of voting in August, and the only candidate in the second round scheduled for November 7.
Mr. Karzai's challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, withdrew from the race Sunday because of concerns about widespread fraud, which marred the August vote.
The election commissioner said officials also decided to cancel the run-off for security reasons and to save money.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon arrived in Kabul Monday for meetings with both Mr. Karzai and Abdullah.
The U.N. chief welcomed the decision to cancel the run-off vote and congratulated President Karzai.
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Along with the UN, the United States and British governments issued statements of congratulations.
Is this what Obama wanted?
ReplyDeleteThat is a question for Obama. But wanting something and having the power to control the outcome are two completely different things.
ReplyDeleteGiven the results of the first round of votes, it was clear (even despite detected fraud) that Hamid Karzai was likely to come out ahead. Most analysts were saying as such even before the end of the first round.
The US and our allies worked hard in persuading Karzai to accept a run-off in the first place.
While recent polls have shown Karazi ahead of Dr Abdullah, Abdullah decision to withdraw was his own. While removing the need for a run-off vote saves money and saves the voting public from possible terrorist attacks, the vote itself would have help with the legitimacy question.
Personally, I didn't think many expected true open and free elections in Afghanistan...the best we could hope for..was a somewhere credible election.
Is that what we got? I have no idea...but Karzai is the official winner and he is the person the US will have to work with...like it or not.
Washington might not be speaking much, but the British are...
ReplyDeleteSTRATFOR Video Dispatch: Questions Following Karzai's Re-election
http://www.stratfor.com/analysis/20091102_video_dispatch_questions_following_karzais_reelection