Karzai calls for end to Afghan election impasse
Iran Press TV
Tue Aug 19, 2014 11:45AM GMT
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has called on the country's two presidential candidates to end their dispute over the result of the June presidential runoff vote.
Speaking at a ceremony on Tuesday marking Afghanistan's 95th anniversary of independence from Britain, Karzai expressed hope that the two men vying to succeed him - former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah and former finance minister Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai - will reach an agreement and save Afghanistan from further violence and economic decline.
'I hope we stay united... so that our country is led toward peace and prosperity... I hope that Afghanistan's election has a result soon. The people are waiting impatiently for the result,' Karzai said in the speech in Kabul.
'I hope both of our brothers... reach an agreement so that Afghanistan soon has an inclusive government in which nobody is left out,' he said.
Afghanistan's rival presidential candidates have agreed to form a national unity government following disputed elections.
Abdullah and Ghani signed a joint declaration on August 8 confirming they would cooperate on forming a unity government after an audit of votes from June's poll is completed.
Based on preliminary results from the June 14 runoff, Ghani, a former World Bank economist, won the Afghan election with 56.44 percent of the votes, while Abdullah came second with 43.56 percent.
Abdullah rejected the initial results as unacceptable and fraudulent, alleging that he was the victim of "industrial-scale" ballot box stuffing, with many more votes than the voters registered in some areas.
Later on, both candidates agreed to an internationally monitored audit and pledged to stand by the eventual result of the audit. However, the audit process was halted on several occasions due to differences between observers of the two presidential teams on how to disqualify votes.
About eight million voters out of an estimated 13.5 million participated in the election.
The winner of the election will succeed outgoing President Karzai, who has been in power since the US-led invasion of the country in 2001.
MP/KA/SL
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