Karzai Victory Official in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan — Interim President Hamid Karzai was officially declared the winner today of last month’s Afghan presidential elections after a United Nation team ruled that voting irregularities were not sufficient to overturn the results.

Karzai won 55.4% of votes in the Oct. 9 election, the first direct vote for president in Afghanistan. His closest rival, former Education Minister Younis Qanooni, was in second place with 16.3% of ballots cast, said Zakim Shah, chairman of the Joint Election Management Body, the U.N.-Afghan group that organized the elections.

Two warlords, Hazara leader Haji Mohammed Mohaqiq and Uzbek leader Abdul Rashid Dostum, received 11.7% and 10% respectively.

Karzai would have faced a runoff if he had taken less than 50% of the vote.

A three-member U.N. panel of foreign election experts investigated allegations of fraud and found some evidence, including instances of ballot stuffing. But investigators said the irregularities were not widespread enough to affect the election result.

“After two decades of war and darkness, we are moving toward brightness and peace,” said Shah.

The election chief offered a prayer for those killed during the period leading up to last month’s election, including U.N. staff members who helped organize the vote. Three U.N. election workers were kidnapped in Kabul last week, and today their captors were still threatening to execute them.

Just over 70% of eligible voters cast ballots last month, despite threats of attack by militants. For the most part, the feared violence did not materialize on election day.

Karzai must now choose a Cabinet. He has repeatedly said he does not want a coalition government, such as the one he formed as interim leader that included warlords in an effort to stabilize the country.

But Qanooni, Mohaqiq and Dostum, all leaders of the Northern Alliance that helped U.S. forces defeat the Taliban in 2001, are likely to claim a right to share power because of their strong electoral showing among their ethnic bases.

Karzai and his Cabinet are expected to be sworn in by early next month.