Afghanistan’s Karzai agrees to election run-off

AFGHANISTAN’S election commission has ordered a November 7 run-off in the disputed presidential poll after a fraud investigation dropped incumbent Hamid Karzai’s votes below 50% of the total. Karzai accepted the finding and agreed to a second-round vote.

The announcement came two months to the day after the first-round vote and follows weeks of political uncertainty at a time when Taliban strength is growing.

Karzai said final results showing the need for a run-off were “legitimate, legal and according to the constitution of Afghanistan”.

The Afghan leader spoke at a press conference alongside US senator John Kerry, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and the head of the UN in Afghanistan, Kai Eide — a sign of the intense international pressure which preceded the announcement.

Karzai and Kerry were in talks up until late last night, suggesting that up until the last moment there was a chance he would return to insisting on a first-round victory.

President Barack Obama welcomed Karzai’s willingness to run in a new election against his main rival Abdullah Abdullah, saying his decision “established an important precedent for Afghanistan’s new democracy”.

British prime minister Gordon Brown also commended Karzai, as did UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon. Ban, however, also stressed that a runoff will be a “huge challenge” and promised more help from the world body.

Shortly before the press conference, the chairman of the Independent Election Commission, Azizullah Lodin, said the commission did not want to “leave the people of Afghanistan in uncertainty” any longer. He said Karzai no longer had more than 50% of the vote needed for a first-round victory and ordered a run-off.

Kerry said the agreement on a second round had transformed the crisis into a “moment of great opportunity,” and praised Karzai for “genuine leadership in the decision he has made”.

The possibility of a run-off emerged on Monday after a UN-backed panel threw out nearly a million of Karzai’s votes from the August 20 ballot, pushing his totals below 50% and setting the stage for a run-off against Abdullah, a former foreign minister.

The commission determined that Karzai won 49.7% of the vote — higher than independent calculations.

In a sign that political fissures are not completely smoothed over, the statement said the commission still had “some reservations” about the fraud rulings but decided to announce the run-off because of “time constraints, the imminent arrival of winter and existence of the problems in the country”.

One alternative to a run-off that diplomats say was being discussed was a power-sharing deal, though the form that could take is unclear.

There are serious worries that a run-off — which Karzai is widely expected to win — may not produce any better result.

Another election risks the same fraud that derailed the August 20 vote, along with inciting violence and increasing ethnic divisions.