Afghan election-related crisis to deepen as sole candidate announced winner

By Abdul Haleem

KABUL, Nov. 2 -- Afghanistan's election body, the Independent Election Commission (IEC), on Monday announced incumbent president Hamid Karzai as the winner of presidential election after it decided to scrap a planned run-off ballot.

The announcement made by IEC's chief Azizullah Ludin just a day after the withdrawal of Karzai's top challenger Abdullah Abdullah from the race in a runoff in protest against what he described "biased stance of IEC's chief " and demanded his sacking, a condition utterly rejected by Karzai.

"In order to avoid wasting fund and possible untoward incidents, the IEC in line with the constitution has decided to announce Hamid Karzai as the winner of the race and president of the country," Ludin told journalists at a press conference.

He also called on Abdullah to respect the decision. Nevertheless, he warned that a chaotic situation would emerge in case of disrespecting the decision which neither Abdullah nor anyone would be able to control.

In a sharp reaction, Abdullah's spokesman in talks with Xinhua warned the announcement made by IEC Monday would not solve the crisis and rather doubles it.

"Anyhow, announcing Karzai as winner of the runoff would not solve the problem and instead would complicate it," Fazil Sangcharaki told Xinhua.

Sangcharaki, furthermore, described Karzai as president of 48 percent of the population of the country, saying he would not have legitimacy at the eyes of "52 percent" of the country's some 30 million population.

In the preliminary result of the Aug. 20 election announced in mid September, Karzai bagged 48 percent of nearly 6 million votes followed by his rival Abdullah who secured 28 percent.

Afghanistan's second presidential election marred by widespread fraud and complains that prompted IEC to set Nov. 7 for a runoff between two top candidates, the sitting Karzai and his nearest rival Abdullah.

An eminent political observer, Wahid Mujda, was skeptical aboutthe success of the government of President Karzai over the next five years particularly in war on corruption.

"The legitimacy of Karzai's government in the provinces where he obtained fewer votes would be questioned and he would have a weak administration," Mujda told Xinhua.

Mujda was also of the view that in areas where Karzai had not won enough votes security problems would increase to challenge the government's authority.

Afghan government under Hamid Karzai has failed to check corruption, militancy and illicit drug over the past eight years. The rate of unemployment and poverty is high and the country, according to reports, is among the poorest ones in the world.

"The next administration of Karzai will not get people support unless it overcomes the menace of corruption, provide job opportunities and alleviate poverty in rural areas," Mujda said.

He also linked the success of next administration of president Karzai to the international community's support, emphasizing the "endurance of government over the next five years would be at stake if the international community reviews or reduce its contribution to Afghanistan."