Afghan election to go to a second round
- 00:02:13
- ITN
Afghan election to go to a second round
Gordon Brown has joined Barack Obama in welcoming President Hamid Karzai's agreement to a second ballot run-off in Afghanistan's disputed presidential election. The Afghan leader has bowed to international pressure after a ruling by the UN's Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) that a third of his votes from the first round in August were not valid. That left him without the 50 per cent needed for outright victory. Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission said the run-off with rival candidate Dr Abdullah Abdullah, who finished second in the first round ballot, would be held on November 7. Mr Brown commended what he described as Mr Karzai's "statesmanlike" acceptance of the constitutional process and promised Britain's full support for the final round of voting. "It is vital that the new Afghan government has legitimacy in the eyes of its people," he said. "I have consistently said that the election must be allowed to run its course and that all concerned should respect the process.There is no doubt that there have been flaws and we will need to apply the lessons of this process." Mr Obama described Mr Karzai's announcement as an "important step forward in ensuring a credible process for the Afghan people" which would result in a "government that reflects their will". Mr Brown was reported to have been among a number of senior international figures, along with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, to have put pressure on Mr Karzai to accept the ECC findings after suggestions that he could try to ignore them. Defence officials say UK forces will fulfil the same role they did in the original ballot, helping to transport ballot boxes and voting papers to and from remote polling stations.
ITN | October 20, 2009
