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Afghan 'Unity Government' Deal To Be Signed

September 20, 2014

A senior Afghan government official says that Afghanistan's two rival presidential candidates are due to sign a power-sharing agreement on September 21.

Aimal Faizi, a spokesman for outgoing President Hamid Karzai, said on his Twitter account on September 20, 'Both candidates are expected to sign an agreement on the structure of [a] National Unity [government] tomorrow.'

The announcement comes after last-minute talks between candidates Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah on a U.S.-brokered power-sharing deal that would divide responsibilities between the president and the newly created office of chief executive.

A spokesman for front-running candidate Ghani said on condition of anonymity on September 20 that '100 percent' of outstanding issues had been resolved, and both camps had initialed the power-sharing agreement.

Earlier on September 20, Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission (IEC) said the final results of the country's disputed presidential election will also be announced on September 21, following a weeks-long audit for fraudulent votes.

Spokesman Noor Muhammad Noor said on September 20 that the 'IEC will officially announce the final result of the presidential election tomorrow.'

Ballots were first cast in April and again in a June runoff, but no winner has been decided amid allegations of widespread electoral fraud.

The UN-sponsored audit of the millions of votes was carried out but the results have not been publicly announced.

Both Ghani and Abdullah claim to have won the election, and the United Nations and the United States have pushed for a 'national unity government' to try to avoid violence and ethnic divisions.

Former Foreign Minister Abdullah won the first round of voting in April but did not get enough votes to avoid a runoff.

According to preliminary count, former Finance Minister Ghani took the second round.

U.S. Ambassador James Cunningham brokered talks between Abdullah and Ghani on September 18, a day after negotiations on forming the unity government stalled in a dispute over when and how to release the final election results.

Rahimi said late on September 17 that Abdullah would quit talks on a unity government if the audit results were released before the candidates reached a deal.

Rahimi also said Abdullah wants the auditors to invalidate more of the ballots cast for Ghani.

Ghani rejected that demand.

With reporting by AP, AFP, and RFE/RL's Radio Free Afghanistan

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/afghanistan- vote-results-september-21/26596808.html

Copyright (c) 2014. RFE/RL, Inc. Reprinted with the permission of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, 1201 Connecticut Ave., N.W. Washington DC 20036.