Afghanistan's Abdullah rejects election results
Iran Press TV
Mon Sep 8, 2014 4:9PM
The Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah says he does not accept the outcome of the country's disputed presidential runoff election.
Abdullah said on Monday that he won the Afghan election in 2014, accusing election authorities of rigging the ballots in favor of his rival, former finance minister Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai.
I won the election 'based on the real vote of the people,' said the defiant Abdullah.
Abdullah and Ghani Ahmadzai have been under pressure from Washington to form a national unity government but the talks to that end have failed so far.
The two met for face-to-face talks earlier on Monday but could not reach an agreement.
'The political process has reached a deadlock,' said Abdullah, who did not say if he was pulling out of talks or that the idea of a national unity government was dead.
The months-long standoff has raised fears of conflict and renewed ethnic tension ahead of the planned US troops withdrawal from the country by the end of 2014.
Based on initial results from the June 14 runoff, Ghani Ahmadzai won the Afghan election with 56.44 percent of the votes, with Abdullah in second with 43.56 percent.
Abdullah rejected the preliminary results alleging that he was the victim of "industrial-scale" ballot box stuffing, with many more votes than the voters registered in some areas.
The Independent Election Commission (IEC) had announced that the final result of the weeks-long audit process may be announced by September 10.
The winner will replace the incumbent President Hamid Karzai, who has been in power since the US and its allies invaded Afghanistan in 2001.
NGD/AB/HMV
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