Karzai declared winner of Afghan election

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By Heidi Vogt and Rahim Faiez ASSOCIATED PRESS

UPDATED:

KABUL (AP) -- Afghanistan's election commission proclaimed President Hamid Karzai the victor of the country's tumultuous ballot Monday, canceling a planned runoff and ending a political crisis two and a half months after a fraud-marred first round.

The Obama administration -- which has been waiting for a government deemed legitimate to emerge in Kabul before announcing whether to deploy tens of thousands more troops -- quickly commended the ruling.

"We congratulate President Karzai on his victory in this historic election and look forward to working with him" to support reform and improve security, the U.S. Embassy said in a statement. Britain and the United Nations also issued statements of congratulations.

The cancellation of Saturday's vote came one day after former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah announced he was pulling out of the Nov. 7 vote. Abdullah said the ballot would not have been fair and accused the Karzai-appointed Independent Election Commission of bias.

The annulment is a huge relief to organizers who were scrambling to hold the election before the onset of Afghanistan's harsh winter, as well as to authorities who feared a wave of bloody violence on polling day after a Taliban spokesman threatened attacks against anyone who took part.

Election commission chairman Azizullah Lodin announced Karzai the winner during a news conference in Kabul.

"His excellency Hamid Karzai, who has won the majority of votes in the first round and is the only candidate for the second round, is declared by the Independent Election Commission as the elected president of Afghanistan," Lodin said.

Lodin said that the commission had the authority to make the decision because the Afghan constitution only allows for a runoff between two candidates. There is a chance that the ruling could be contested, but the international community came out strongly in support of it.

The U.S. statement said the commission's decision was in line with "its mandate under Afghan law."