Afghan poll imbroglio: Pakistan welcomes ‘amicable solution’

Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah agreed to 100% audit of votes.

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Sunday hailed the ‘amicable’ solution worked out by rival Afghan candidates over a vote fraud controversy that had threatened to plunge Afghanistan into chaos following the second round of the presidential elections on June 15.

“We welcome the amicable solution that has reportedly been worked out, and appreciate the efforts of everyone who contributed to this outcome,” said foreign ministry spokesperson Tasnim Aslam.

“Pakistan has emphasised the importance of a peaceful resolution of all issues through dialogue,” she said.



Afghanistan plunged into a political crisis after leading presidential candidate Dr Abdullah Abdullah rejected preliminary poll results last week. He also threatened to declare a parallel government if the audit of all ‘fraudulent votes’ was not held.

Both candidates, Dr Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai and Dr Abdullah, agreed to a 100% audit of the votes cast in the run-off election after US Secretary of State John Kerry brokered the deal during two days of talks in Kabul.

At a news conference held late Saturday night in Kabul, Kerry said the audit would begin in 24 hours.

“Every single ballot that was cast will be audited, 100%, all 8 million,” Kerry had said. “Both candidates have committed to participate in and abide by the results of the largest, most comprehensive possible audit… this is the strongest possible signal of the desire to restore legitimacy to the process.”

The audit of votes will be internationally supervised in the manner proposed by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). The candidates’ campaigns will each provide joint oversight of the audit in accordance with UNAMA proposals.

According to Kerry, the process will take a number of weeks and UNAMA has requested Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the country’s electoral institutions to postpone the inauguration date to accommodate this request. The transfer of power was scheduled on August 2.

An agreement between the two candidates to form government of national unity has led to a controversy as the idea has not yet been explained. Afghan media has questioned as to why the two candidates reached an agreement on a government of national unity after they agreed on audit of all votes.

Dr Abdullah told the news conference in the presence of John Kerry and Ghani, “We also have a framework of national unity government, once the votes are cleared, the ballot papers are cleared.”

Both sides have come up with different explanation of the suggestion. Abdullah’s campaign team says that a national unity government means a shared government where both candidates will have a prominent role.

“National unity government can be called shared government, our campaign team will never want the creation of a coalition government, but we will accept shared government,” Abdullah’s campaign spokesman Said Fazel Agha Sancharaki told Tolo TV.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 14^th, 2014.