dan9999
11-02-2009, 01:25 PM
Karzai declared elected president of Afghanistan
November 2, 2009 8:15 a.m. EST
CNN
Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Afghanistan's Independent Electoral Commission declared incumbent President Hamid Karzai the winner of the 2009 presidential election Monday.
The electoral officials made the announcement after they canceled Saturday's presidential runoff following the withdrawal of candidate Abdullah Abdullah.
Commission president Azizullah Lodin said electoral officials came to a consensus for several reasons, including security and money.
Afghans went to the polls on August 20 in a vote marred by widespread fraud. Two months later, the U.N.-backed Electoral Complaints Commission invalidated a large number of ballots, giving Karzai less than 50 percent of the vote and forcing a runoff.
Abdullah withdrew Sunday, saying he believed the second round would be as fraudulent as the first.
"I want this to be an example for the future so that no one again tries to use fraud to abuse the rights of the Afghan people," Abdullah told reporters.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon arrived in Kabul on Monday, hours before the commission's announcement. Ban met with both Karzai and Abdullah, as well as U.N. officials, including Kai Eide, head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan.
The cancellation of the runoff "puts the election issue behind us," but Karzai has yet to achieve a true victory, according to former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad.
"Now the key issue is how the Afghan people will react to this, what kind of government will President Karzai put together, and how the international community will react," Khalilzad told CNN's "American Morning."
"We're in a new stage now in Afghanistan."
November 2, 2009 8:15 a.m. EST
CNN
Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Afghanistan's Independent Electoral Commission declared incumbent President Hamid Karzai the winner of the 2009 presidential election Monday.
The electoral officials made the announcement after they canceled Saturday's presidential runoff following the withdrawal of candidate Abdullah Abdullah.
Commission president Azizullah Lodin said electoral officials came to a consensus for several reasons, including security and money.
Afghans went to the polls on August 20 in a vote marred by widespread fraud. Two months later, the U.N.-backed Electoral Complaints Commission invalidated a large number of ballots, giving Karzai less than 50 percent of the vote and forcing a runoff.
Abdullah withdrew Sunday, saying he believed the second round would be as fraudulent as the first.
"I want this to be an example for the future so that no one again tries to use fraud to abuse the rights of the Afghan people," Abdullah told reporters.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon arrived in Kabul on Monday, hours before the commission's announcement. Ban met with both Karzai and Abdullah, as well as U.N. officials, including Kai Eide, head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan.
The cancellation of the runoff "puts the election issue behind us," but Karzai has yet to achieve a true victory, according to former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad.
"Now the key issue is how the Afghan people will react to this, what kind of government will President Karzai put together, and how the international community will react," Khalilzad told CNN's "American Morning."
"We're in a new stage now in Afghanistan."