The incumbent Afghan leader Hamid Karzai has emerged as the winner of Afghanistan's first-ever presidential election marred by irregularities, head of the joint UN-Afghan election commission announced in Kabul Wednesday.  

"Hamid Karzai secured 55.4 percent of 8,024,538 valid votes cast in the historic democratic elections," Zakim Shah announced.

"In line with Article 61 of the constitution, the election commission announces His Excellency Hamid Karzai as the winner of October 9 presidential elections and he is the first elected president of Afghanistan," he declared.

Over 8 million out of around 12 million Afghans registered to vote, participated in the direct presidential polls, held on Oct. 9 in the country.

"The election commission congratulates His Excellency Hamid Karzai on his victory and wishes all success for him in leading the country towards prosperity," Shah said.

The mandate allows the US-backed Afghan leader, who has been at the helm of affairs since the collapse of Taliban nearly three years ago, to rule the country for another five years.

However, the elections held amid tight security were marred by irregularities and fraud allegations, into which Karzai's 15 rivals demanded a thorough investigation.

The UN-appointed three-member panel in its 68-page report released on Wednesday confirmed the irregularities during the landmark Afghan presidential polls, but concluded it would not impair the just and credibility of the polls.

"Irregularities such as wrongfully applied ink for marking thumbs and cheating have been committed during the elections, but these were not too serious to affect its results," Graig Jenness, an expert of the panel said.

"The irregularities mainly occurred due to technical and administrative problems and no political motivation was found involved in these incidents," he noted.

Karzai, ready to celebrate his victory, would take oath as the country's elected head of state within 30 days according to the constitution.

(Xinhua News Agency November 4, 2004)