Afghan officials on Monday cancelled plans for a runoff vote, declaring President Hamid Karzai the winner after the withdrawal on Sunday of rival Abdullah Abdullah.

The announcement capped a fraught election widely depicted as deeply flawed by corruption and voting irregularities.

Chairman of Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission Azizullah Ludin said the Constitution did not require a runoff and the second-round vote had been canceled after Abdullah’s decision to drop out of the race.

Listing the commission’s reasons for cancelling the vote, Ludin said the electoral body wanted to spare Afghans the high costs and security risks of a fresh round of balloting.

Karzai and the election commission had been under intense pressure from Afghanistan’s international backers, including the US, to cancel the second round because of security perils and worries about a potential repetition of the vote-rigging that marred the first round.

At a news conference, Ludin said Karzai had won the majority of votes in the first round “and was the only candidate in the second round”. Ludin said, Karzai was “declared the elected President of Afghanistan”.

Officials from the US and UN welcomed the decision and congratulated Karzai. “We congratulate President Karzai on his victory in this historic election,” said a statement from the US Embassy in Kabul, “and look forward to working with him, his new administration, the Afghan people and our partners in the international community to support Afghanistan’s progress towards institutional reforms, security and prosperity.”

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who arrived in Kabul on Monday, said the election process had been “difficult”, and urged Karzai to form a government that would have the support of Afghanis and the international community.

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