Nov
2
2009
Democracy Fails in Afghanistan
Author: Stephen
Afghanistan’s election commission on Monday canceled a runoff presidential election scheduled for Saturday and declared president Hamid Karzai the reelected leader of the country, according to news reports from Kabul. The move came after Karzai’s main challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, withdrew from the second-round elections on Sunday, saying he did not think they would be fair.
It was unclear whether the new moves would bring calm or further chaos to Afghanistan’s jumbled election picture. Although Karzai was initially declared the winner of the first round of elections in August, those results were canceled because of allegations of widespread fraud, casting doubt about the legitimacy of Karzai’s government as the Obama administration considers sending as many as 40,000 additional troops to the country.
There were no immediate statements from Abdullah or Karzai about the election commission’s decision. Abdullah pulled out of the race in large part because he thought the top Afghan election commissioner favored Karzai, and there was no way the Nov. 7 runoff would be free and fair.
On Sunday, Abdullah announced to thousands of supporters at a rally that he would not participate in the Nov. 7 vote because, he said, a “transparent election is not possible.”
Article continues at Politico
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