PRESSURE WAS growing on Hamid Karzai yesterday to form a unity government after the Afghan president was declared the winner of the country’s election following the cancellation of a runoff vote.
The decision by the Independent Election Commission (IEC) to declare Mr Karzai president, taken just one day after his rival, Abdullah Abdullah, announced he would not participate in a fresh vote scheduled for Saturday, was welcomed by the west, despite doubts about the strength of Mr Karzai’s mandate.
Diplomats and world leaders warned that he must reach out to Mr Abdullah after the IEC, which has been heavily criticised for being biased in the president’s favour, declared that Mr Karzai would serve another five years in office.
Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary general, who was in Kabul on an unannounced visit yesterday, congratulated Mr Karzai but said the country faced “significant challenges”.
“The new president must move swiftly to form a government that is able to command the support of both the Afghan people and the international community.”
British prime minister Gordon Brown, who telephoned Mr Karzai to congratulate him, said: “Afghanistan now needs new and urgent measures for tackling corruption, strengthening local government and reaching out to all parts of Afghan society, and to give the Afghan people a real stake in their future.”
The US embassy also endorsed Mr Karzai as the country’s new leader. “We congratulate President Karzai on his victory in this historic election and look forward to working with him,” it said in a statement. President Obama was due to speak to Karzai by telephone last night.
The announcement of Mr Karzai’s victory was immediately attacked by Mr Abdullah’s supporters. Saeed Rahi, a lawyer, said the IEC decision “did not have any legal basis” and ignored the constitutional requirement that the president must win more than 50 per cent of the vote.
He said: “The constitution is quite clear on this, but this process is now a political game run by the international community.”
The IEC claimed the country’s constitution only required a 50 per cent share of the vote in the first round, and because Dr Abdullah had dropped out of the race a runoff would not be necessary.
Azizullah Ludin, the IEC’s chairman, whom Mr Abdullah had insisted should be sacked as a precondition of his participation in the second round, made the announcement at the commission’s headquarters in Kabul.
“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,” he said.
Mr Ludin said the decision had been taken unanimously by the IEC’s commissioners, who had also been concerned about the dire security situation in the country and the additional money that would have to be spent on another vote.
Zekria Barakzai, Mr Ludin’s deputy, said he was “totally disappointed” with the way the country’s scandal-hit election had unfolded, but said there was no point in going ahead with the runoff.
The IEC announcement brought to a close an election which it was once hoped would help to turn round the deteriorating situation in Afghanistan, but which is now widely regarded by observers as a fiasco. – (Guardian service)