KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, Afghanistan — Afghan President Hamid Karzai sounded the statesman Tuesday, as he agreed to take part in a run-off vote in two weeks.
“It was not important who the winner is, and we need to leave this to the people of Afghanistan to judge who the winner was,” Karzai said at a news conference through an interpreter. “Whether I am the winner or not, it’s probably in my interest, but I prefer the national interest of Afghanistan over my personal interests.”
Karzai’s lofty comments Tuesday came shortly after Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission certified that results of the Aug. 20 election, which gave him less than the 50 per cent needed to avoid a run-off.
The commission set Nov. 7 as the date for a second round of voting between Karzai and his main challenger Abdullah Abdullah.
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Karzai must have figured a better way to fix the election than the last time…