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Afghan Presidential Rivals to Share Power

by Ayaz Gul September 20, 2014

Afghan presidential candidates Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah have finally negotiated a long-awaited deal to share power in a so-called national unity government, a move likely to end a months-long election crisis in the war-shattered country.

Officials say the two men vying to replace President Hamid Karzai will sign the document on Sunday, the same day the election commission will announce results of a bitterly disputed June presidential runoff.

The political power-sharing deal was finalized after more than two months of tumultuous negotiations between presidential candidates collapsed. Negotiators from the two sides met late Saturday with senior United Nations officials to write a draft agreement.

Hamedullah Farooqi, a spokesman for the front-runner Ghani, told VOA the deal will be formally signed sometime before Sunday's scheduled announcement of the final election results.

He said there is no disagreement on anything, but refused to discuss further details.

"[Ghani and Abdullah] both agreed on the national unity government and the detail will be released [Sunday] I hope, after they sign [the deal] and ... announce it,' he said. 'Hopefully we are going to see the final fingerprints on those documents and the announcement of the election results, and then the inauguration [of the new president] and then creating of the national unity government and leaving all this uncertainty behind us."

Under the power-sharing deal, a newly created office of the chief executive is to be given to the election loser or his nominee, and will have considerable powers in the system of governance.

The post will be given constitutional cover within two years. Farooqi insisted the deal has been finalized within the Afghan constitution to avoid creating what he called 'a shareholder company-type government."

Members of the Abdullah team also have confirmed that a deal has finally been struck, but they gave no details.

The election crisis has deepened Afghanistan's economic, security and ethnic troubles as the U.S.-led military coalition prepares to withdraw from the country, leaving Afghan security forces to fight the Taliban insurgency.

The first round of presidential election was held in April and Abdullah emerged as the lead candidate, but did not win enough votes to avoid a runoff against Ghani, who finished second.

The preliminary results from the June 14 runoff election put Ghani far ahead with 56 percent of the vote. That outcome triggered angry street protests from supporters of Abdullah who alleged massive fraud.

The election tensions prompted U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry to intervene and mediate a deal between Abdullah and Ghani. Under the agreement, a U.N.-supervised comprehensive audit of the runoff vote was performed and its results are due to be announced on Sunday.