KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Incumbent President Hamid Karzai was declared as the winner of the 2009 Afghanistan presidential election today, November 2, 2009, by Azizullah Lodin, the spokesman of Independent Election Commission (IEC). He won the election after the second round of voting was canceled when opposition candidate and Karzai’s only challenger Dr. Abdullah Abdullah remove himself from the election on Sunday, November 1, 2009.
“As many as 30% of Karzai’s votes were fraudulent, and lesser fraud was committed on behalf of other candidates.”
Peter Galbraith, U.S. diplomat
The 2009 Afghanistan presidential election first round of voting was discredited because of fraud votes. And as what U.S diplomat Peter Galbraith said, 30% of Karzai’s votes are fraud. Galbraith was fired on September 30, 3009 by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon after he accused U.N chief Kai Eide and the United Nations itself of helping cover up electoral fraud committed by Karzai.
To make Karzai’s government legitimate, Karzai accepted the second round of voting under the influence of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, US Senator John Kerry, and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. But before the Saturday runoff, a power-sharing deal was being negotiated to Karzai and Abdullah by U.N. chief Kai Eide and U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry. Karzai and Abdullah have appeared in US televisions, and said that they will not accept the deal. Both of them didn’t want to discuss about this deal until the election result has been announced. But it is clear that both of them don’t like US to interfere in their government and the way they will rule the country. Until the negotiations broke down early Sunday when Karzai refused a formula for dividing Cabinet posts. And then today, Abdullah quit the race.
“Transparent election is not possible.”
Abdullah Abdullah, 2009 Afghan presidential candidate
Former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah decided to quit in the presidential election race because his demands for changes in the electoral commission had not been met including his demand to replace the top three officials in the commission of election office. He said that the results on November 7 will be the same because the runoff will be held by the same Karzai-appointed election commission officers who handled the first round of voting on August 20, 2009 in which the U.N.-backed auditors annulled nearly a third of Karzai’s votes as fakes. He believed that a massive fraud happened in the first round and it is not possible that it will happen again on the second round.
If you will remember CNN’s interview to Former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad, he have predicted that Abdullah would quit the race. As what he said, Abdullah doesn’t have much money left and it is embarrassing if he’ll get less votes than what he get in the first round.
After Abdullah removed himself from the election, Independent Electoral Commission discussed whether a runoff is still needed. There are other important reasons that they considered before they decided to cancel the second round of election which supposedly will be held on November 7, 2009. A growing number of Taliban attacks and the huge and complex logistical challenge are being considered as well. They also said that the country need to save money so that is why they need not to continue the second round of voting this Saturday.
Western leaders, headed by the US government and the United Nations headed by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon congratulated Karzai on his reelection.
IMAGE CREDIT: AP Photo / TheDailyBeast.com
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