Decision to name Karzai president had no legal basis: Abdullah

Kabul, Nov 4 : Afghan presidential challenger Abdullah Abdullah Wednesday sharply criticised the decision of the country's election commission to declare incumbent Hamid Karzai the winner of Afghanistan's disputed presidential elections.

Abdullah, who pulled out of a scheduled Nov 7 runoff with Karzai Sunday, said there was "no legal basis" for the decision of the Independent Election Commission (IEC).

However, the former foreign minister refrained from calling for protests and asked his supporters to remain calm.

The IEC is widely perceived to be biased towards Karzai in Afghanistan's drawn-out election quagmire. The Aug 20 election was marred by massive fraud, mostly favouring the president.

Abdullah withdrew from the race as he said he feared renewed fraud by the president's supporters. The IEC then scrapped the runoff and Monday declared Karzai elected president.

There are lingering doubts over the legality of the decision, as the Afghan constitution demands a runoff if no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote.

Neither the IEC nor the supreme court were independent, Abdullah said. The supreme court judges would have made the same decision favouring Karzai if the IEC had not done so, he claimed.

Abdullah said he and his supporters would adhere to the law and were ready to make sacrifices for the good of the country.

He ruled out personally participating in a Karzai-led government.

Karzai Tuesday announced plans to form a government of national unity, which was to include representatives of all political and ethnic groups.

He did not specify whether he would offer to cooperate with Abdullah.

--IANS