Afghan President Hamid Karzai was declared the victor of the war-torn country's presidential election as the election commission cancelled a run-off vote after his opponent withdrew.
Independent Election Commission chairman Azizullah Lodin declared Karzai the victor during a news conference in Kabul on Monday. "He was the winner of the first round and the only candidate in the second round," Ludin said.
PAJWAR, AFGHANISTAN - NOVEMBER 1: An Afghan villager grabs election material that arrived via helicopter along the Tajikistan border on November 1, 2009 in the remote village of Pajwar in Badakdshan province, Afghanistan. Abdullah Abdullah has formally withdrawn from the run-off election only six days ahead of the vote. The top challenger to President Karzai demanded the removal of several election officials alleged to have been involved in voting fraud during the August 20 presidential election. President Hamid Karzai rejected his request as talks broke down yesterday. (Photo by Paula Bronstein/Getty Images)
Afghan National Army soldiers protect their faces from flying dust as a helicopter takes off from a U.S. army base in the Pech Valley of Afghanistan's Kunar province Sunday, Nov. 1, 2009. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Afghan National Army soldiers train on a firing range at a U.S. army base in the Pech Valley of Afghanistan's Kunar province Sunday, Nov. 1, 2009. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Afghanistan's presidential challenger Abdullah Abdullah walks towards podium to address media in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Nov. 1, 2009. Abdullah announced Sunday he would not participate in next weekend's runoff election because his demands for new measures prevent fraud were rejected. He stopped short of calling on his supporters to boycott the balloting. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Supporters of Afghanistan's presidential challenger Abdullah Abdullah read newspapers as they wait for the arrival of Abdullah to address the media in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Nov. 1, 2009. Abdullah announced Sunday he would not participate in next weekend's runoff election because his demands for new measures prevent fraud were rejected. He stopped short of calling on his supporters to boycott the balloting. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)
AP
Afghanistan's presidential challenger Abdullah Abdullah walks towards podium to address media in Kabul, Afghanistan, Sunday, Nov. 1, 2009. Abdullah announced Sunday he would not participate in next weekend's runoff election because his demands for new measures prevent fraud were rejected. He stopped short of calling on his supporters to boycott the balloting. (AP Photo/Gemunu Amarasinghe)
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Afghan National Army soldiers protect their faces from flying dust as a helicopter takes off from a U.S. army base in the Pech Valley of Afghanistan's Kunar province Sunday, Nov. 1, 2009. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)
AP
A U.S. Marine trainer gives guidance to an Afghan National Army soldier as they train on a firing range at a U.S. army base in the Pech Valley of Afghanistan's Kunar province Sunday, Nov. 1, 2009. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)
AP
Afghan National Army soldiers train on a firing range at a U.S. army base in the Pech Valley of Afghanistan's Kunar province Sunday, Nov. 1, 2009. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)
AP
Afghan National Army soldiers train on a firing range at a U.S. army base in the Pech Valley of Afghanistan's Kunar province Sunday, Nov. 1, 2009. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)
AP
An Afghan National Army soldier, covered in a camouflage suit, trains on a firing range at a U.S. army base in the Pech Valley of Afghanistan's Kunar province Sunday, Nov. 1, 2009. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)
AP
Afghanistan's election commission cancelled the vote on Monday only hours after UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon met with Karzai and former presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah.
Karzai had effectively already secured a second term when Abdullah, his only challenger, dropped out of the race on Sunday. Abdullah alleged the Nov. 7 vote would not be transparent or fair.
Abdullah had complained that Karzai turned down his demands for changes in the Independent Election Commission and other measures that Abdullah said would prevent massive fraud in the second round of balloting.
Widespread Fraud
An investigation by the UN-backed election panel invalidated ballots from thousands of polling stations in the first round of voting due to fraud that was characterized by rampant ballot-box stuffing. The elimination of the ballots dropped Karzai below the 50 per cent threshold needed to avoid a second round of voting.
Ban met with Abdullah and Karzai on Monday in Kabul. His visit to Afghanistan was meant to assure the Afghan people "of the continuing support of the United Nations toward the development of the country," the UN said in a statement. But analysts said the UN chief's visit was indicative of the mounting pressure by the international community for a quick resolution to the electoral turmoil in Afghanistan.
The presidential election was seen as crucial to strengthening the credibility of the Afghan government in the eyes of its citizens and allies.
Abdullah's withdrawal may throw the legitimacy of the new government into question. It will also likely be seen as a blow for U.S. President Barack Obama who is considering whether to send more troops to the war-torn country, according to analysts.
Analysts said cancelling the run-off vote was likely the favoured resolution by the international community and the focus will now likely be on encouraging Karzai to put together a government that will root out corruption.
A woman walks under the trees covered in snow on November 1, 2009 in Beijing, China. The Chinese capital embraced its first heavy snowfall in winter.
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A torch bearer, left, is lead to a waiting truck before his torch was extinguished by organizers and driven to a new location after protestors disrupted the route for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games torch relay on Vancouver Island in Victoria, B.C., on Friday October 30, 2009.
THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck
In this undated photo made available by the family, Paul and Rachel Chandler, who went missing when sailing from the Seychelles to Tanzania after sending a distress signal on Friday, Oct. 23, 2009, are seen at an unknown location. Britain's Foreign Office said Tuesday, Oct. 27, 2009 that searches are under way for a British couple missing after their yacht activated a distress beacon off Somalia. The Foreign Office said Tuesday it is checking reports the couple may have been seized by pirates.
AP Photo/PA
This handout image taken Wednesday Oct. 28, 2009 made available Thursday Oct. 29, 2009 by EU NAVFOR shows the yacht Lynn Rival belonging to a British couple apparently taken captive by pirates off the east coast of Africa. The British navy on Thursday found an empty yacht in international waters belonging to a missing British couple and a defense official said Somali pirates may have transferred them to another vessel. International naval forces have been searching for the couple for days. Paul and Rachel Chandler were heading to Tanzania in their yacht, the Lynn Rival, when a distress signal was sent last Friday.
AP Photo/ EU NAVFOR
Greek hurdler Fani Halkia takes part in the Greek leg of the torch relay for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic flame under the ancient Acropolis in Athens, late Wednesday Oct. 28, 2009. Greek officials will hand the flame over to Canadian organizers on Thursday, Oct. 29. Former Olympic champion Halkia was expelled from the Beijing Olympics after testing positive for a banned steroid, is currently serving a two-year competition ban for doping. She carried the Vancouver torch from the foot of the Acropolis to the entrance of the archaeological site, where the flame remained overnight. Greek Olympic officials had no immediate comment on her selection for the relay.
AP Photo/Newsports, Nikos Chalkiopoulos
An abandoned car sits alongside Colorado Highway 93 as a winter storm continues to deposit snow throughout the state on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009.
AP Photo/Peter M. Fredin
FILE - In this file photo taken Saturday, Jan. 20, 2007, a woman believed to be Rochom P'ngieng, dubbed the "jungle woman," holds a wooden pole looking away at her home in Oyadao, Rattanak Kiri province, about 660 kilometers (410 miles) northeast of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. P'ngieng, dubbed the "jungle woman" after emerging, naked and unable to speak from the wilds of northeastern Cambodia two years ago, is sick and apparently suffering from mental illness, a doctor said Friday, Oct. 30, 2009.
AP Photo/Heng Sinith, File
Catriona Le May Doan, right, and Simon Whitfield run as the first torchbearers with the Olympic flame, Friday, Oct. 30, 2009, in Victoria, British Columbia. The Olympic flame which travelled all the way from Greece will now start a 106-day cross country relay which will end in Vancouver on Feb. 12, 2010, to mark the start of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games.
The Canadian Press, Jonathan Hayward
Four month old elephant "Rani" and her mother "Thura" are pictured in Hagenbeck's zoo in Hamburg, northern Germany on Friday, Oct. 30, 2009.
AP Photo/Fabian Bimmer
A vendor transports marigolds by boat at a canal in Xochimilco Lake in Mexico City, Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2009. Known as "cempasuchil" in Nahuatl language and "flor de muerto" in Spanish, marigolds are purchased throughout the country each year to adorn traditional Day of the Dead altars.
AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo
Security Concerns
Earlier Monday, Daoud Ali Najafi, the chief electoral officer for the Independent Election Commission, had said the commission was concerned about security of voters in the second round.
"If we go for a run-off and it did not give much legitimacy to the president and many lives are lost, it is also a concern for us," Najafi told Reuters.
Karzai's campaign had said it wanted the run-off to go ahead as planned. But the Taliban had threatened more violence if the Nov. 7 vote was held, complicating the organization and security for the balloting.
The disputed presidential election was among the most difficult elections the UN has ever supported, Ban said.
"We continue to stand by the people of Afghanistan in their quest for prosperity and peace," Ban told reporters.
Ban also met with UN staff in Kabul on Monday. UN staff members staying at a guesthouse were the target of an attack last week that killed five UN staff people and three Afghans.
Ban said the UN will continue to work in Afghanistan despite the deaths. "We cannot be deterred," he said.
Sommelier Masahiko Mori pours a bottle of 2009 Beaujolais Nouveau into the wine spa at the Hakone Yunessun resort west of Tokyo, Japan.
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