Kabul, Afghanistan (CNN) -- Afghan electoral officials declared incumbent President Hamid Karzai the winner of the 2009 presidential election Monday, after canceling this weekend's second round of voting.
Observers say Karzai's real test will be whether he can form a government that is seen as legitimate in the eyes of the Afghan people and the international community.
The Independent Electoral Commission made the announcement after they canceled Saturday's presidential runoff following the withdrawal of opposition candidate Abdullah Abdullah.
A runoff could have been held with just one candidate, but commission president Azizullah Lodin said electoral officials decided to cancel the second round of voting for several reasons, including security and money.
The decision was made just a couple of hours before the announcement, according to IEC deputy Zakria Barakzai.
Afghans went to the polls on August 20 in a vote marred by widespread fraud. Karzai had initially claimed victory, but two months after the vote, a U.N.-backed panel of election monitors threw out nearly a third of his votes, citing fraud. When that left Karzai short of a majority, he agreed to the runoff.
Abdullah had called for the resignations of top election officials and politicians to avert electoral fraud in the runoff.
He argued that the commissioners, who are hired by Karzai, cannot be impartial. But that request was not met, Abdullah said Sunday, and he did not believe a transparent election was possible.
"I want this to be an example for the future so that no one again tries to use fraud to abuse the rights of the Afghan people," Abdullah told reporters.
Meanwhile, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon arrived in Kabul on Monday, hours before the commission's announcement.
He issued a statement welcoming the decision, congratulating Karzai, and restating the U.N.'s commitment to supporting the new government.
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