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Obama welcomes Karzai's acceptance of 2nd round election

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-10-20 22:51

WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama on Tuesday welcomed the decision by Afghan President Hamid Karzai to accept the second round of election, calling it an important step to ensure the future Afghan government could reflect the will of people.

"I welcome President Karzai's statement today accepting the Independent Electoral Commission's certification of the August 20 election results, and agreeing to participate in a second round of the election," Obama said in a written statement.

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Calling Karzai's decision "an important precedent for Afghanistan's new democracy, Obama said that "This is an important step forward in ensuring a credible process for the Afghan people which results in a government that reflects their will."

The United Nations-backed Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) submitted on Monday its fraud investigation finding to Afghan electoral body, saying that votes from 210 polling stations in Afghanistan elections invalid.

Afghanistan held its second presidential elections in mid-August. However, final result has yet to be announced by the election body due to widespread fraud allegation leveled by Karzai's rival Abdullah Abdullah who secured 28 percent of more than 5.5 million votes against Karzai who bagged over 54 percent in the preliminary results.

The runoff in Afghanistan's presidential election is due to be held on November 7.