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Karzai elected in landslide vote

KABUL JUNE 14. Hamid Karzai won Afghanistan's presidential election in a landslide vote among delegates at a historic grand assembly, the loya jirga Commission has said.

In the first free presidential election in Afghan history, Mr Karzai won with 1,295 votes out of more than 1,500 who cast ballots, the commission said.

Masoodeh Jalal, a woman doctor with the World Food Programme, won 121 votes, and the third candidate, a government official, Mir Mohammad Mahfouz Nedaei, won 89.

Asked how she felt, Ms Jalal said: ``He won, that's democracy.''

Mr. Karzai turned his attention on Friday to reassembling a land brimming with factional strife — and helping the grand council build the rest of the new Government.

``My first priority is to continue to have peace, to have security for Afghanistan and to provide for the Afghan people prosperity,'' Mr. Karzai said on Friday morning. ``This was a very, very good show of democracy,'' he said in an interview. ``And I said myself: It should be a secret vote, because I didn't want any criticism after — that there was no one that was unable to vote their conscience.''

Speaking before the delegates on Friday, Mr. Karzai said he would ``follow the fundamentals of Islam.'' One religious leader went further, saying Islamic law, or Sharia, should be implemented. ``As long as the President works within Islam, it is acceptable. But if he strays outside Islam, people must complain,'' Abdul Rasul Sayyaf told delegates. The balance between Islamic and secular principles is a key point of contention as the new Government is formed.

Mr. Karzai's selection — somewhere between an appointment and an election by the grand council — marked the midpoint of a U.N.-brokered process to rebuild a country wracked by 23 years of war, ethnic conflict and destruction.

The loya jirga is based on an Afghan tradition whose purpose is to bring far-flung countrymen — and sometimes women — together for important decisions in times of need. And while this loya jirga faced complaints of intimidation, harassment and the shunting aside of certain groups, many agree the process that led to Mr. Karzai's election has been better than anything Afghans have had in years.

``I think everyone is happier,'' said Lakhdar Brahimi, the U.N. special envoy for Afghanistan. ``It's not going to provide food or houses, but it's a start.''

Some worry Mr. Karzai lacks the strength to build national authority by wresting power from regional warlords who control fiefdoms, often with their own militaries. Delegates have pointed to the presence of some warlords as proof the old ways have not changed. Though Mr. Karzai is well-liked internationally, his appeal within Afghanistan is intertwined with hopes for the nation's reconstruction.

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