Afghan election officials declare Karzai president

KABUL: The Afghan Independent Election Commission on Monday declared incumbent Hamid Karzai the winner of the presidential election after his challenger pulled out of the coming weekend's runoff.

The commission cancelled Saturday's second round of voting and declared Karzai president for the next five years, chairman Azizullah Ludin announced in Kabul.

Ludin said the commission came to the decision because Karzai won the most votes in the first round Aug 20 and the constitution mandates that a runoff be held between two candidates.

The commission also hoped to avoid insurgent attacks and the expense of a runoff, he said.

Karzai's challenger, his former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, withdrew from the race Sunday.

The first round was marred by massive fraud, mostly in favour of Karzai, and Abdullah said he was ending his campaign after Karzai did not accept his conditions for bringing transparency to the runoff.

Abdullah, however, did not question the legitimacy of Karzai's future government and said that he was open for talks on forming the new government, which could involve his supporters taking part in the administration.

Political analysts said they believe Karzai must make concessions to Abdullah's camp to achieve a compromise.