Afghan Election Commission Cancels Runoff, Declares Karzai Winner

Afghan election authorities have called off the country's November 7 presidential runoff and declared incumbent Hamid Karzai president.

Speaking to journalists in Kabul, Azizullah Ludin, who heads the Afghan Independent Election Commission (IEC), said "the economic and political fallout of this protracted process" and the prevention of "uncertainty and challenges to the security" were the main reasons behind the commission's decision.

"In the light of all these arguments and in line with Article 156 of the constitution and Article 49 of the election law," he said, "the election commission is declaring Mr. Hamid Karzai, the leading candidate in the first round of the election and the only candidate in the second round of the election, as the elected president."

The announcement came shortly after visiting UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon had called for a decision on the election "as soon as possible." Afterward, Ban said he welcomed the IEC's decison to forego the runoff and declare Karzai the winner.

Earlier in the day, Ban had met separately with Karzai and former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, who on November 1 withdrew from the second-round runoff because he felt a fair and transparent vote was not possible.

Speaking to journalists in Kabul, Ban expressed hope that the Afghan election commission would uphold the law in deciding whether to go ahead with the vote.

"I am sure that the due process and observance of the law will prevail. And the Afghan Independent Election Commission will apply constitutionally correct procedures," Ban said.

Western diplomats were reportedly not in favor of holding the second-round vote following Abdullah's pullout.

The U.S. Embassy in Kabul and the British government have both welcomed the IEC's decison and congratulated Karzai on his victory.

The runoff was called after a United Nations-backed investigation found that widespread fraud, mainly in favor of Karzai, had been committed during the first-round vote held on August 20.

The UN secretary-general is in Kabul to show solidarity with UN election workers after an attack on a UN guesthouse in the Afghan capital killed five UN international staff and three Afghans last week.