Karzai: "Refusing runoff would be insulting democracy". Apparently, Karzai's idea of democracy allows his government to fix the elections but not to stop a fixed runoff from happening. Nice to know there is a line they won't cross.

democracy has always been a nice word to appease the populace. People like to think that their opinions and views are significant. So why wouldn't he side with democracy -- even if his actions are contrary to at least the generally expected meaning of the term.