Karzai’s former rival claims his presidency ‘has no legal basis’

FORMER foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, who quit Afghanistan’s troubled presidential election race this week, yesterday said Hamid Karzai’s re-election had “no legal basis”.

Abdullah, who pulled out of a run-off poll scheduled after more than a million votes cast in the August 20 election were deemed fraudulent, said Karzai lacked legitimacy after being reappointed by electoral commissioners.

“This decision does not have a legal basis,” he told reporters in his first public appearance since Karzai was declared president for another five years.