KABUL, Afghanistan, Oct. 21 (UPI) -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai called on the international community to take "every possible measure" to provide security for a runoff election Nov. 7.
An investigation into the Aug. 20 presidential election in Afghanistan uncovered widespread fraud in favor of Karzai. Election officials decided Tuesday to hold a runoff election pitting Karzai against his closest rival, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah.
Karzai told reporters it was vital that the runoff election scheduled for Nov. 7 take place in a secure environment.
"I hope that the international community and the Afghan government and all others concerned will take every possible measure to provide security to the people so that when they vote that vote is not called a fraud," he said in statements published on the presidential Web site.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called for 200 officials allegedly linked to election fraud to be replaced for the Nov. 7 vote.
"We realized that it was quite difficult for a young democracy to stand on its own, even with strong international assistance, particularly by the U.N.," he told the BBC. "We will try to replace all the officials who have been implicated in not following the guidelines or who have been complicit in fraudulent procedures."
Washington said it would base parts of its decisions on the way forward with its latest war strategy in Afghanistan on the legitimacy of the Kabul government.
