Afghan election called off
By politics.co.uk staff
Next weekend’s Afghan presidential election run-off has been cancelled, officials said today.
The independent election commission called off the vote after president Hamid Karzai’s sole remaining rival, Abdullah Abdullah, pulled out.
Opposition politicians were concerned the re-run’s sole intention was to grant legitimacy to the Karzai government, and that the process would still not be fair.
Dr Abdullah had demanded that key poll officials quit.
The former foreign minister came second to incumbent Mr Karzai in the fraud-ridden first round of voting on August 20th.
“I think the legitimacy of the process was damaged,” he said, referring to allegations of vote-rigging which resulted in up to one-third of votes cast being rejected.
“There are a lot of concerns and those were the basis of my decision.”
In a further blow to the process he said the “only independent thing” about Afghanistan’s independent election commission was its name.
Earlier, Gordon Brown has pledged his support to work with a legitimate Afghan government – despite the uncertainty shrouding where that government will come from.
The prime minister said: “Along with the whole international community, including our over 40 international partners in Afghanistan, we hope to see an Afghan government emerge that responds to the will of the people, that reaches out to all parts of Afghan society, and that is ready to take strong action to meet the challenges that Afghanistan faces.
“We are ready to work in close partnership with such a government.”
The run-off election was scheduled for November 7th.
