KABUL, October 20 (RIA Novosti) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai gave in to international pressure on Tuesday and agreed to take part in a second round of elections on November 7, election authorities said.
In agreeing to the November run-off against former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, Karzai accepted the findings of the UN-backed Electoral Complaints Commission's probe into the August 20 polls, the subject of wide-scale allegations of fraud.
The investigation determined that no candidate had received over 50% of the vote, the threshold for automatic victory. Karzai had claimed 54.6% of the vote in the first round.
"I call upon this country to take this as an opportunity to move the country forward and participate in a new round of elections," Karzai later said on national television.
Senator John Kerry, the head of the U.S. Senate's Foreign Relations Committee, who was present during the announcement, had reportedly earlier met with the 51-year-old Karzai at the presidential palace to persuade him to agree to new polls.
News on the second round of elections comes after an intense period of international diplomacy, with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner arriving in Afghanistan on an unannounced visit on Saturday.
Karzai also held phone conversations with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
"President Karzai's constructive actions established an important precedent for Afghanistan's new democracy," U.S. President Barack Obama said. "The Afghan Constitution and laws are strengthened by President Karzai's decision, which is in the best interests of the Afghan people."
Ban Ki-moon praised on Tuesday Karzai's willingness to compromise and his "full respect" for the war-ravaged country's constitution. The August polls were accompanied by nationwide attacks by Taliban militants, and the UN chief recognized in his comments that the run-off would be a "huge challenge."
