HIGHLIGHTS: A Woman Doctor Won 121 Votes & A 3rd Contender Won Only 89 Votes||General Elections in 18 Months Time||Loya Jirga-Chosen Parliament Sits As Soon As Government Is Chosen|| STORY: Hamid Karzai, U.S.-backed scion of a royalist family, was elected president of Afghanistan on Thursday and faces the tough task of healing a country torn by 23 years of war. (Read photo caption)

In the first free presidential election in Afghan history, Karzai won with 1,295 votes in the Loya Jirga assembly out of more than 1,500 cast ballots, the election commission said.

Masoodeh Jalal, a woman doctor with the World Food Programme, won 121 votes, and the third candidate, government official Mir Mohammad Mahfouz Nedaei, won 89.

Asked how she felt, Jalal told Reuters: "He won, that's democracy."

Delegates cheered and cried "Allah Akbar" (God is Great) as the result was announced.

Wearing his trademark lambskin cap and a business suit, an emotional Karzai said the vote was "a matter of pride" for himself and his family, who have a long tradition of public service to the old monarchy and the country.

Karzai will hold office for 18 months ahead of general elections.

KARZAI PROFILE

A Pashtun from the south, Karzai had already won the backing of the former king and the Northern Alliance, which comprises Tajiks and other northern ethnic groups.

His ascent to the highest position in the land caps six months in which he has risen from being an unknown businessman to a world figure and key ally in the U.S. war on terrorism.

Karzai said in a speech to the assembly a fundamental task for the nation was to avoid further conflict and misery and foreign intervention.

Switching between the Pashto language of the majority Pashtuns and Dari, spoken by northern Tajiks and Uzbeks, he said Afghanistan wanted good ties with all its neighbours.

LOYA JIRGA-CHOSEN PARLIAMENT SITS AS SOON AS GOVERNMENT IS CHOSEN

Karzai became interim leader in December under a U.N.-sponsored agreement after the Taliban were swept from power by the Northern Alliance backed by U.S. air strikes.

Delegates said the new cabinet would be broad based, with the president coming from the majority Pashtun group and the first vice-president being a Tajik. The judiciary is expected to be led by an Uzbek.

The Loya Jirga will choose a 111-member parliament that will sit soon after the new government is chosen.

PHOTO CAPTION

Afghan interim leader Hamid Karzai talks to journalists at a meeting in Kabul on June 6. REUTERS/Caren Firouz