Afghan presidential vote set for run-off
Abdullah, Ghani raise objections, accusing election panels of not addressing their concerns.
Ashraf Ghani. PHOTO: REUTERS
ISLAMABAD:
Afghanistan will head into a second round of polls after no candidate secured the mandatory 50 per cent-plus one of the total votes cast in the April 5 presidential election, the Independent Election Commission (IEC) announced on Saturday.
IEC head Ahmad Yusuf Nuristani gave the breakdown of the partial results that placed former foreign minister Dr Abdullah Abdullah in the lead with 44.9% of the votes, closely followed by former World Bank economist Dr Ashraf Ghani Ahmedzai with 31.5%, while Zalmay Rassoul, also a former foreign minister, is in the third place with 11.5% of votes.
However, spokespersons for Dr Abdullah and Dr Ghani raised serious objections at the results and said the two election panels could not address their concerns of ‘fraud’ in the landmark elections.
The candidates have 24 hours to file complaints about the preliminary results. The Independent Electoral Complaints Commission (IECC) is tasked with adjudicating the complaints. The election commission will announce the final results on May 14 only after the adjudication is completed.
A total of 6.89 million of some 12 million eligible voters cast their ballots in the presidential elections amid Taliban threats of violence and tight security, Nuristani said. About 64% of the votes were cast by men while 36% of women voters participated in the presidential and provincial council elections.
The IEC would now submit the results to the complaints commission for assessment before the announcement of the official results.
Nuristani said the second round could be held on June 7.
The spokesperson for Dr Abdullah said the results are unacceptable as some people deliberately want to take the country to a run-off. He did not directly blame anyone. “We are confident that we have secured the required votes in the first round. However, some elements want a second round that will push the country to a crisis,” Fazalur Rahman Orya told BBC Pashto.
He hoped that the complaints commission, which has nearly 20 days to address the fraud complaints, probe the rigging charges and announce the accurate results. “The commission will be responsible for the consequences if fraud ballot papers were not separated from clean votes.” He did not respond when he was asked whether Dr Abdullah was prepared for the second round.
Hamidullah Farooqi, Dr Ashraf Ghani’s spokesperson, also expressed his serious reservations over the preliminary results and said the election authorities have not addressed their concerns.
“We believe the election commission and the complaints commission are under pressure and are not separating bogus ballot papers from genuine votes,” Farooqi told BBC Pashto.
He said some people are threatening the two election bodies. “We will agree to opt for the second round if fraudulent ballot papers are separated and a probe is conducted into the rigging,” he said. A run-off is in line with the constitution and Dr Ghani’s team will obviously respect that, he added.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) welcomed Saturday’s release of preliminary results as an important step towards next month’s scheduled announcement of the final results.
“The Afghan electoral institutions should be commended for their work to make the process more transparent than ever before,” said the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan and head of UNAMA, Ján Kubiš.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 27th, 2014.
Afghanistan will head into a second round of polls after no candidate secured the mandatory 50 per cent-plus one of the total votes cast in the April 5 presidential election, the Independent Election Commission (IEC) announced on Saturday.
IEC head Ahmad Yusuf Nuristani gave the breakdown of the partial results that placed former foreign minister Dr Abdullah Abdullah in the lead with 44.9% of the votes, closely followed by former World Bank economist Dr Ashraf Ghani Ahmedzai with 31.5%, while Zalmay Rassoul, also a former foreign minister, is in the third place with 11.5% of votes.
However, spokespersons for Dr Abdullah and Dr Ghani raised serious objections at the results and said the two election panels could not address their concerns of ‘fraud’ in the landmark elections.
The candidates have 24 hours to file complaints about the preliminary results. The Independent Electoral Complaints Commission (IECC) is tasked with adjudicating the complaints. The election commission will announce the final results on May 14 only after the adjudication is completed.
A total of 6.89 million of some 12 million eligible voters cast their ballots in the presidential elections amid Taliban threats of violence and tight security, Nuristani said. About 64% of the votes were cast by men while 36% of women voters participated in the presidential and provincial council elections.
The IEC would now submit the results to the complaints commission for assessment before the announcement of the official results.
Nuristani said the second round could be held on June 7.
The spokesperson for Dr Abdullah said the results are unacceptable as some people deliberately want to take the country to a run-off. He did not directly blame anyone. “We are confident that we have secured the required votes in the first round. However, some elements want a second round that will push the country to a crisis,” Fazalur Rahman Orya told BBC Pashto.
He hoped that the complaints commission, which has nearly 20 days to address the fraud complaints, probe the rigging charges and announce the accurate results. “The commission will be responsible for the consequences if fraud ballot papers were not separated from clean votes.” He did not respond when he was asked whether Dr Abdullah was prepared for the second round.
Hamidullah Farooqi, Dr Ashraf Ghani’s spokesperson, also expressed his serious reservations over the preliminary results and said the election authorities have not addressed their concerns.
“We believe the election commission and the complaints commission are under pressure and are not separating bogus ballot papers from genuine votes,” Farooqi told BBC Pashto.
He said some people are threatening the two election bodies. “We will agree to opt for the second round if fraudulent ballot papers are separated and a probe is conducted into the rigging,” he said. A run-off is in line with the constitution and Dr Ghani’s team will obviously respect that, he added.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) welcomed Saturday’s release of preliminary results as an important step towards next month’s scheduled announcement of the final results.
“The Afghan electoral institutions should be commended for their work to make the process more transparent than ever before,” said the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan and head of UNAMA, Ján Kubiš.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 27th, 2014.