Afghan commission rejects Karzai, sets election for August

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Afghan commission rejects Karzai, sets election for August

By Jonathan S. Landay | McClatchy Newspapers


KABUL, Afghanistan — Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission Wednesday confirmed that the country's second democratic election would be held on Aug. 20, rejecting President Hamid Karzai's call for the vote to be moved up by at least four months.

The decision, however, failed to resolve the question of Karzai's status during the period between May 22, when his five-year term ends under the Constitution, and the election.

The issue will be the subject of intense bargaining between Karzai and his political opponents, who're likely to demand that he be replaced by an interim president or guarantee that he won't use his office to bolster his re-election campaign.

Analysts said that Karzai could try to extend his term by two months by asking the Afghan parliament to approve a state of emergency, but doing so could worsen the political crisis.

The wrangling comes amid a worsening Taliban insurgency, which last year reached its bloodiest level since the 2001 U.S. intervention that drove the puritanical Islamist group from power.

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