London, Washington back Afghan runoff
Gordon Brown hails "statesmanlike statement" made by Hamid Karzai on need for Afghan presidential election runoff
Tuesday, 20, Oct 2009 05:15
By Matthew Champion.
Hamid Karzai's statement he will accept a second vote in Afghanistan's presidential election has been welcomed warmly on both sides of the Atlantic.
The current president today announced the runoff between himself and former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah would take place on November 7th.
Full story: Afghanistan to hold presidential runoff
A UN-backed commission had already thrown initial results giving Mr Karzai a 50 per cent share of the vote into doubt by invalidating up to 1.3 million ballots for the president due to vote-rigging.
Gordon Brown reacted to Mr Karzai's decision to reassert the importance of the new Afghan government having legitimacy in the eyes of its people.
"I have consistently said that the election must be allowed to run its course and that all concerned should respect the process," he said. "There is no doubt that there have been flaws and we will need to apply the lessons of this process."
The prime minister also commended Mr Karzai's "statesmanlike statement", pledging the "full support" of Britain and the international community throughout the remainder of the election process.
"I would like to congratulate the Afghan people on the patience and resilience that they have shown throughout the long election process," Mr Brown continued. "The priority now is for all elements of Afghan society to come together to ensure that the democratic process continues as securely as possible."
The PM added: "As I made clear last week, Britain remains committed to seeing its obligations through in Afghanistan. Our strategy depends on a strong Afghan government showing the leadership required to gain the trust of its people. This election is the opportunity for them to choose that leadership."
In Washington, US secretary of state Hillary Clinton, hailed the "bravery, patience and resilience" of the entire Afghan people.
She also had warm words for President Karzai's announcement.
"The leadership shown by the president, Dr Abdullah and all of the other candidates has strengthened Afghanistan and kept faith with the best interests of the Afghan people," Mrs Clinton continued.
"Afghan plans are in place to enable a second round of voting, and we pledge our support to the election authorities to help them achieve a conclusion to the elections process. We remain committed to partnering with the Afghan people and their government on our shared objectives of strengthening good governance, tackling corruption, increasing economic opportunities and improving security for all Afghans."