Haris Ali2140
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This thread is for discussions related to Afghan Peace process and matters related to it.
Can mods make this thread sticky???
@waz @The Eagle @Dubious
Ghani declared winner of Afghan election - but opponent rejects result
Incumbent gained just over 50% of September votes but Abdullah’s team reject results
Emma Graham-Harrison
Tue 18 Feb 2020 17.35 GMTFirst published on Tue 18 Feb 2020 16.13 GMT
Ashraf Ghani and his main rival, Abdullah Abdullah, have accused each other’s campaign teams of fraud. Photograph: Hedayatullah Amid/EPA
Five months after Afghans went to the polls to choose a new president, election authorities have declared the incumbent, Ashraf Ghani, the winner, but his main opponent has rejected the result and said he will form his own “inclusive government”.
After a heavily contested poll, Ghani officially scraped just over 50% of votes, averting a second round run-off. But hours after the election results were announced, rival Abdullah Abdullah declared himself the victor.
Decisions on disputed votes were “illegal” he told a news conference in the Afghan capital, and the results “national treason”, local media reported.
The dispute sets Afghanistan up for a difficult political showdown at a critical time. The US is closing in on a withdrawal agreement with the Taliban, which should pave the way for “intra-Afghan talks” with the government in Kabul.
With two men claiming the presidency with powerful support bases, that vital but complicated stage in possible peace negotiations to end a decades-old civil war would be even more difficult.
“At a normal time, disputed election results would be traumatic for a country that craves stability and strong government, but this week, Afghans are also expecting a US-Taliban deal to be announced,” said Kate Clark, a co-director of the Afghanistan Analysts Network.
“That deal should usher in the start of talks between the Taliban and other Afghans. Will the Afghan political class be able to agree on a team or a negotiating strategy if they are locked in battle as to who sits in the presidential palace?”
September’s presidential poll was marred by violence and disillusionment with the political process, as well as fraud. Turnout was low; fewer than 2 million votes were counted even though Afghanistan has 9.6 million registered voters, election authorities said.
Although there were more than a dozen other candidates running in the 2019 election, Ghani and Abdullah were the only two with a real chance of victory. Both claimed they had won soon after polls closed, and accused the other camp of fraud.
Results that were originally to be announced on 7 November were delayed for months amid arguments over corruption, accusations of misconduct and technical problems counting ballots.
Since preliminary results in December put the incumbent in the lead, Abdullah’s allies have repeatedly warned they would consider a Ghani victory invalid because of fraud.
Abdullah’s powerful coalition for the vote includes the warlord Gen Abdul Rashid Dostum, who commands a huge and fiercely loyal following in the north of the country, and has threatened to set up a parallel government.
On Tuesday, election authorities said Ghani won 50.64% of the vote, or 923,592 ballots, while Abdullah received 39.52%, or 720,841 ballots.
Abdullah’s campaign chief hinted at use of force, if the dispute could not be resolved. “We are out of the election process,” Fazal Ahmad Manawi said on Twitter. “The reasons for this lack of legitimacy is clear to all as much as the sun is.
“Democracy, election and civil values is not functional in this country as whoever captures power tries to maintain it with any cunning possible. The only way for obtaining power is force.”
The election was a virtual replay of the 2014 contest, when Ghani and Abdullah were the main contenders and also argued bitterly over the result, trading accusations of fraud.
That impasse only ended when the then US secretary of state, John Kerry, stepped in to broker a power-sharing deal, paving the way for a largely dysfunctional “unity government” in which Ghani consolidated power while Abdullah struggled.
It is unclear if the US has the appetite for another diplomatic intervention, although having the withdrawal agreement within reach might make Washington more inclined to push for some kind of resolution of Kabul power struggles.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/18/ashraf-ghani-wins-afghan-presidential-election
Abdullah Rejects Results, Announces Formation of ‘Inclusive Govt’
Abdullah says that based on the clean votes of the elections, his team is the winner.
RELATED NEWS
Hours after the announcement of the final results of the presidential election by the Independent Election Commission, Abdullah Abdullah, the chief executive of Afghanistan, announced the formation of an “inclusive government” by his Stability and Convergence campaign team, declaring his “victory” in the polls.
Abdullah said decisions on disputed votes were “illegal,” adding that today’s results were a coup against democracy and that he does not accept them.
“It was national treason,” he added.
“The Stability and Convergence team is the ‘winner of the election’ based on ‘clean votes’ and we announce our ‘victory,’” Abdullah says. “We announce the formation of an inclusive government.”
The Independent Election Commission announced President Ashraf Ghani as winner of Afghanistan’s presidential election during a press conference on Tuesday.
The final results of the election, according to the IEC, show that President Ashraf Ghani has the highest count with 50.6% of the total, at 923,592 votes.
The final results of the election show that Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah has 39.52% of the total, with 720,841 votes, according to the IEC.
IEC chairperson Hawa Alam Nuristani announced Mohammad Ashraf Ghani as the “elected president of Afghanistan” with 50.6%.
The total turnout was 1,823,948 votes from 24,258 polling stations--98% of all the polling stations that were opened on the September 28 polling day--according to Nuristani.
She called the day “historic” and said that 31.5 percent of the participants were women.
Nuristani said that 26,580 polling stations were open on election day while 3,006 polling stations were closed.
Of the total 29,586 polling stations, 11,000 of them were for women and 18,476 of them were for men.
There was a slight change in Tuesday’s announcement from IEC’s announcement of the preliminary elections on December 22, 2019. Based on the IECC’s decision, a partial audit and partial recount were conducted of the 300,000 disputed votes, and 262 votes were added to Ghani's total, 742 votes were added to Abdullah's, and 453 votes were invalidated, according to the IEC.
Based on the preliminary results that were announced late last December, incumbent President Ashraf Ghani was narrowly declared the winner while Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah got 39% of a total of over 1.8 million votes.
https://tolonews.com/index.php/afghanistan/abdullah-rejects-results-announces-formation-‘inclusive-govt’
Can mods make this thread sticky???
@waz @The Eagle @Dubious
Ghani declared winner of Afghan election - but opponent rejects result
Incumbent gained just over 50% of September votes but Abdullah’s team reject results
Emma Graham-Harrison
Tue 18 Feb 2020 17.35 GMTFirst published on Tue 18 Feb 2020 16.13 GMT
Ashraf Ghani and his main rival, Abdullah Abdullah, have accused each other’s campaign teams of fraud. Photograph: Hedayatullah Amid/EPA
Five months after Afghans went to the polls to choose a new president, election authorities have declared the incumbent, Ashraf Ghani, the winner, but his main opponent has rejected the result and said he will form his own “inclusive government”.
After a heavily contested poll, Ghani officially scraped just over 50% of votes, averting a second round run-off. But hours after the election results were announced, rival Abdullah Abdullah declared himself the victor.
Decisions on disputed votes were “illegal” he told a news conference in the Afghan capital, and the results “national treason”, local media reported.
The dispute sets Afghanistan up for a difficult political showdown at a critical time. The US is closing in on a withdrawal agreement with the Taliban, which should pave the way for “intra-Afghan talks” with the government in Kabul.
With two men claiming the presidency with powerful support bases, that vital but complicated stage in possible peace negotiations to end a decades-old civil war would be even more difficult.
“At a normal time, disputed election results would be traumatic for a country that craves stability and strong government, but this week, Afghans are also expecting a US-Taliban deal to be announced,” said Kate Clark, a co-director of the Afghanistan Analysts Network.
“That deal should usher in the start of talks between the Taliban and other Afghans. Will the Afghan political class be able to agree on a team or a negotiating strategy if they are locked in battle as to who sits in the presidential palace?”
September’s presidential poll was marred by violence and disillusionment with the political process, as well as fraud. Turnout was low; fewer than 2 million votes were counted even though Afghanistan has 9.6 million registered voters, election authorities said.
Although there were more than a dozen other candidates running in the 2019 election, Ghani and Abdullah were the only two with a real chance of victory. Both claimed they had won soon after polls closed, and accused the other camp of fraud.
Results that were originally to be announced on 7 November were delayed for months amid arguments over corruption, accusations of misconduct and technical problems counting ballots.
Since preliminary results in December put the incumbent in the lead, Abdullah’s allies have repeatedly warned they would consider a Ghani victory invalid because of fraud.
Abdullah’s powerful coalition for the vote includes the warlord Gen Abdul Rashid Dostum, who commands a huge and fiercely loyal following in the north of the country, and has threatened to set up a parallel government.
On Tuesday, election authorities said Ghani won 50.64% of the vote, or 923,592 ballots, while Abdullah received 39.52%, or 720,841 ballots.
Abdullah’s campaign chief hinted at use of force, if the dispute could not be resolved. “We are out of the election process,” Fazal Ahmad Manawi said on Twitter. “The reasons for this lack of legitimacy is clear to all as much as the sun is.
“Democracy, election and civil values is not functional in this country as whoever captures power tries to maintain it with any cunning possible. The only way for obtaining power is force.”
The election was a virtual replay of the 2014 contest, when Ghani and Abdullah were the main contenders and also argued bitterly over the result, trading accusations of fraud.
That impasse only ended when the then US secretary of state, John Kerry, stepped in to broker a power-sharing deal, paving the way for a largely dysfunctional “unity government” in which Ghani consolidated power while Abdullah struggled.
It is unclear if the US has the appetite for another diplomatic intervention, although having the withdrawal agreement within reach might make Washington more inclined to push for some kind of resolution of Kabul power struggles.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/18/ashraf-ghani-wins-afghan-presidential-election
Abdullah Rejects Results, Announces Formation of ‘Inclusive Govt’
Abdullah says that based on the clean votes of the elections, his team is the winner.
RELATED NEWS
- Nabil Suggests 'Reconciliation Govt,' Rejects Election Results
- We have Come to Unite Our Nation: Ghani
Hours after the announcement of the final results of the presidential election by the Independent Election Commission, Abdullah Abdullah, the chief executive of Afghanistan, announced the formation of an “inclusive government” by his Stability and Convergence campaign team, declaring his “victory” in the polls.
Abdullah said decisions on disputed votes were “illegal,” adding that today’s results were a coup against democracy and that he does not accept them.
“It was national treason,” he added.
“The Stability and Convergence team is the ‘winner of the election’ based on ‘clean votes’ and we announce our ‘victory,’” Abdullah says. “We announce the formation of an inclusive government.”
The Independent Election Commission announced President Ashraf Ghani as winner of Afghanistan’s presidential election during a press conference on Tuesday.
The final results of the election, according to the IEC, show that President Ashraf Ghani has the highest count with 50.6% of the total, at 923,592 votes.
The final results of the election show that Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah has 39.52% of the total, with 720,841 votes, according to the IEC.
IEC chairperson Hawa Alam Nuristani announced Mohammad Ashraf Ghani as the “elected president of Afghanistan” with 50.6%.
The total turnout was 1,823,948 votes from 24,258 polling stations--98% of all the polling stations that were opened on the September 28 polling day--according to Nuristani.
She called the day “historic” and said that 31.5 percent of the participants were women.
Nuristani said that 26,580 polling stations were open on election day while 3,006 polling stations were closed.
Of the total 29,586 polling stations, 11,000 of them were for women and 18,476 of them were for men.
There was a slight change in Tuesday’s announcement from IEC’s announcement of the preliminary elections on December 22, 2019. Based on the IECC’s decision, a partial audit and partial recount were conducted of the 300,000 disputed votes, and 262 votes were added to Ghani's total, 742 votes were added to Abdullah's, and 453 votes were invalidated, according to the IEC.
Based on the preliminary results that were announced late last December, incumbent President Ashraf Ghani was narrowly declared the winner while Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah got 39% of a total of over 1.8 million votes.
https://tolonews.com/index.php/afghanistan/abdullah-rejects-results-announces-formation-‘inclusive-govt’
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