Afghan Panel Declares Karzai President

Hamid Karzai is to serve as president of Afghanistan for a second term, according to an election panel.

  KABUL, Afghanistan — Hamid Karzai is to serve as president of Afghanistan for a second term, according to an election panel.

The Indepedent Election Commission declared Karzai president a day after the only challenger pulled out of the run-off election.

Commission chairman Azizullah Ludin said Karzai had earned the most votes in the first round, though there were wide spread accusations that voting fraud has occurred.

The fraud had enveloped the nation in political chaos questioning the legitimacy of the Afghan government previously installed by the United States.

The threat of another round of fraud was the reason Karzai’s rival, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, removed himself from the race.

Violence had plagued the election; a suicide bomber destroyed a house for UN staff prior to the visit of UN chief Ban Ki-moon to push for a two-man run-off.

The IEC scrapped the run-off scheduled for Saturday even though the deadline had passed for the challenger to withdraw.

In the end after discounting the fraudulant votes, Karzai received 49.67 percent of the vote; Abdullah got 30 percent.