Afghan Presidential Election in Thrown into Chaos as Abdullah Announces Withdrawal from Poll

Afghanistan’s presidential elections has been thrown into further turmoil after President Hamid Karzai’s closest rival, Abdullah Abdullah, announced he would be withdrawing from the poll “in the best interests of the country.”

A second round in the presidential election was forced after widespread fraud was uncovered in the first round. According to Abdullah the results of next Saturday’s second round would likely produce the same results as the country had not done enough to ensure a fraud-free election.

Abdullah had requested the dismissal of election officials who presided over the first round but Karzai rejected that request. Following Karzai’s decision Abdullah declared he would not take part in the election process, telling the BBC “I felt that it might not help the democratic process, it might not restore the faith of the people in (the) democratic process.”

He went on to say, “It was a hard decision and a painful decision for me, but I did it... I thought that it would be in the best interests of the country if I decide not to participate.”

Karzai was the clear winner of the first round, far exceeding the 50 percent majority needed to prevent a second round but an investigation into claims of fraud resulted in the invalidation of thousands of ballots, dropping the president below the necessary mark and forcing a second round.

Initially Karzai objected to the run-off but after international pressure he conceded, eventually welcoming the decision.

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