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Karzai declared Afghan president

KABUL/ISLAMABAD: Afghanistan’s election commission on Monday declared Hamid Karzai elected as president after it called off a run-off following the withdrawal of his only rival.

The run-off, called after the first round in August was marred by widespread fraud, was to have been held on November 7. “The Independent Election Commission declares the esteemed Hamid Karzai as the president ... because he was the winner of the first round and the only candidate in the second round,” the commission’s chief Azizullah Ludin told a news conference.

Former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah withdrew from the race over the weekend, citing doubts about the credibility of the election process. “There is no second round,” the IEC’s chief electoral officer Daoud Ali Najafi told Reuters. President Asif Ali Zardari congratulated President Karzai after the election organisers declared him the winner, AFP reported. “I have great pleasure to extend to you my heartiest felicitations on your re-election,” he said. agencies

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