Afghanistan: Ashraf Ghani wins presidential poll in preliminary results

President of Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani has scored a majority in the presidential polls and is on track to win the second term in office as announced by election officials on December 22. In the preliminary results, Ghani has secured 50.64 per cent of votes. Despite his triumph, the fallout from the elections conducted on September 28 looked set to continue as the top rival Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah said that he would contest the results. According to the announcement by Independent Election Commission, Ghani bested Abdullah who acquired just 39.52 per cent votes.

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Before the final results are made public within a few weeks, all the candidates now have the right to file complaints. Soon after the preliminary results were announced, Abdullah's office said in a statement that it would contest it. The statement reportedly read that their 'team will l not accept the result of this fraudulent vote ' unless their legitimate demands are addressed. These results which were announced on December 22 had been scheduled for October 19 but were delayed due to technical issues, and allegations of fraud. 

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Comission claims 'honesty'

The IEC spokesperson Hawa Alam Nuristani claimed that they finished their job with 'honesty, loyalty, responsibility, and faithfulness'. Nuristani even claimed that the results might change when the final results will be announced, but ensured the people in the press conference that commission counted 'each and every vote' because they want 'democracy to endure'. The Afghan citizens, however, are still stuck in a limbo between the vote and the results which heaped the additional uncertainty. 

The people are also anxiously waiting for the outcome of talks between Afghanistan and the Taliban. The September 28 elections were apparently the cleanest yet in the young democracy as the biometric machines were supplied by Germany and allowed citizens to vote only once. The elections are said to have the lowest turnout of any Afghan poll with nearly one million of the initial 2.7 million votes were purged. 

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(With agency inputs)