UN head welcomes new Afghan election

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today Afghanistan’s run-off elections will pose a “huge challenge” next month.

But he welcomed President Hamid Karzai’s “commitment to ensuring full respect for Afghanistan’s Constitution and its democratic processes.”

He also praised Karzai’s rival, Abdullah Abdullah, for his “dignified approach to the campaign as well as to the difficult post-election period.”

Ban said the elections were held “under extremely difficult, even dangerous circumstances” in which the Afghan people “voted in the face of intimidation and insecurity.”

He promised the UN would try to ensure the runoff occurs in a “free, fair, transparent and secure environment,” and promised unspecified UN technical and logistical help for the election.

He said UN help in improving voter security will be key to preventing further fraud and corruption, so that people will not face fear threats or violence.

“There’s a huge challenge in conducting a second election on November 7,” he said. “The United Nations will ensure to provide more necessary technical assistance as we have done for the first elections.”

Ban thanked Eide and his staff for their “tireless” work.

But while acknowledging the “widespread fraud” and other election irregularities, the UN chief did not express any regret for firing Peter Galbraith, the top American official at the UN mission in Afghanistan who earlier clashed with Eide and called attention to the fraud charges in the country’s presidential election.

Asked whether the UN’s reputation was damaged by the flap, Ban said the “credibility of the United Nations has been there, it will continue to be there.”