Karzai declared poll winner in Afghanistan

HAMID Karzai was declared the winner of Afghanistan's presidential elections yesterday – by a commission he appointed.

World leaders raced to congratulate him on his re-election amid widespread relief that weeks of political deadlock in Kabul could soon be at an end.

But serious doubts remain over his government's mandate after he failed to poll the "50 per cent plus one vote" required by the Afghan constitution.

In an extraordinary U-turn, the country's Independent Election Commission (IEC) cancelled plans for a run-off and declared Mr Karzai the winner – despite insisting less than 24 hours earlier that a second round had to go ahead on legal grounds, regardless of rival candidate Abdullah Abdullah's decision to pull out. Pressed on where Mr Karzai's legitimacy would stem from, IEC chairman Aziz Ludin said simply: "We are the commission, we have declared."

Visibly annoyed, he dismissed suggestions his staff had been compromised by spectacular vote-rigging that saw more than a million votes thrown out in the first round.

Diplomats hope Mr Karzai will reach out to his political opponents and forge a unity government to give Nato a "credible partner" in their battle against the Taleban. But talks have already broken down between Mr Karzai and Dr Abdullah, who refused to participate in the second round, claiming it would be even more rigged than the first.

Dr Abdullah was careful to stress his door remained open, but in an apparent souring of relations, his spokesman branded yesterday's IEC announcement illegal. "(It] will not solve the problems of Afghanistan, and it doesn't have any basis in law," Fazel Sancharaki said.

Nick Horne, a former United Nations political officer based in Afghanistan for the elections, warned that, without a second round, Mr Karzai lacked a constitutional mandate. "Without a second round, he doesn't have the 50 per cent plus one vote," he said. "The point is Karzai's mandate is very, very tenuous. The question is how we move forward with a Karzai presidency, building a government the people can support."

Diplomats hope the IEC statement will herald the end of more than ten weeks of post-election wrangling.

Last night, US president Barack Obama welcomed Mr Karzai's election with as much admonishment as praise, telling the US's partner in war he expects a more serious effort to end corruption in his government.

"I emphasised that this has to be a point in time in which we begin to write a new chapter," Mr Obama said in describing his congratulatory phone call to Mr Karzai.

The president added that when Mr Karzai offered assurances, he told him that "the proof is not going to be in words, it's going to be in deeds".

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, in Kabul after five of his staff were killed in an attack on their guesthouse last week, welcomed the IEC announcement and congratulated Mr Karzai.

Downing Street said Gordon Brown had congratulated Mr Karzai. "They discussed the importance of the president moving quickly to set out a unifying programme for the future of Afghanistan," a spokesman said.

Afghan leader under pressure to bring rivals into government

HAMID Karzai will now have to prove his legitimacy by reaching out to his opponents, reforming a government many view as corrupt and incompetent, and quelling a revived Taleban insurgency.

Eight years after the United States picked him to lead an interim government following the overthrow of the Taleban, Mr Karzai's relationship with his western backers has grown increasingly strained.

He is under immense pressure to negotiate with Abdullah Abdullah – who has emerged as a national figurehead in the post-election drama – to reach some sort of deal on the shape of the next government. He will probably need to give up some cabinet positions to Dr Abdullah's camp in order to make it more representative – Mr Karzai is a Pashtun, whose support is mainly in the south and east, while Dr Abdullah's support base is largely among Tajiks in the north.

Mr Karzai fled to Pakistan after the 1979 Soviet invasion. In exile, he helped fund and arm anti-Soviet fighters. He served as deputy foreign minister from 1992 to 1994, after the fall of the Soviet-backed government.

At first supporting the Taleban, he later worked from Pakistan to overthrow them. He returned to Afghanistan in late 2001 as president. But corruption, slow development, his alliance with former militia leaders and civilian casualties caused by foreign forces have eroded his public support.