Karzai's re-election 'not legitimate'

Press TV
Wednesday, Nov 4th, 2009

Hamid Karzai's main electoral rival has condemned election officials' decision to declare him president, saying Karzai's re-election lacks 'legitimacy'.

Former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah on Sunday pulled out of a run-off poll scheduled for November after more than a million votes cast in the August 20 election were discarded as fraudulent.

Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission (IEC) cancelled the second term the next day and declared Karzai president for another five-year term.

The president's re-election was welcomed by the UN chief Ban Ki-moon and leaders from Western allies, who urged him a prompt 'eradication of government corruption'.

Abdullah, however, charged Wednesday that the IEC decision to declare his rival Karzai as president had 'no legal basis'.

In his first public appearance after Karzai's re-election, Abdullah scoffed at his rival's pledge to fight widespread graft in Afghanistan and forge national unity, saying 'such a government which lacks legitimacy cannot fight corruption'.

"A government which comes to power without the people's support cannot fight phenomena of terrorism threats, unemployment, poverty and hundreds of other problems," he told reporters.

Abdullah repeated accusations of 'incompetence and bias' against the IEC, insisting that 'a government which takes power based on such a commission's decision cannot have legitimacy'.

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