President Hamid Karzai has taken key steps to reform Afghanistan's electoral system, naming a respected former judge to head an organising body and ending his bid to exclude international representatives from a fraud-monitoring group.

AFGHANISTAN’S election commission proclaimed President Hamid Karzai the victor of the country’s tumultuous ballot yesterday, cancelling a planned runoff and ending a political crisis two-and-a-half months after a fraud-marred first round.

UNITED Nations-backed fraud investigators have thrown out hundreds of thousands of votes for President Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan’s disputed August election, according to a report released yesterday.

A run-off in the disputed Afghanistan presidential race appeared more likely today after President Hamid Karzai was stripped of hundreds of thousands of votes by UN-backed electoral fraud investigators.