The contested verdict of the presidential election, which is only preliminary, has spilt out on to the street.
While supporters of Ashraf Ghani who has won 56.44 percent of the votes celebrated
While supporters of Ashraf Ghani who has won 56.44 percent of the votes celebrated, Abdullah Abdullah’s supporters resorted to peaceful marches and firing in the air to show their opposition to his polling only 43,54 percent votes.
Mujibul Rahman Rahimi, a spokesperson for Abdullah, requested the result be delayed until the allegations of fraud are investigated. The results are being seen as a conspiracy by the IEC and Karzai government against Abdullah. Instead, on July 5th Ghani broke his silence to demand the provisional results be announced on the 7th as it happened.
Abdullah who addressed his supporters in a loya jirga tent on July 8 described the result as a coup against the people. “I will not accept the result of fraud,” he said. But he stopped short of endorsing his supporters’ call that he form a parallel government. Abdullah supporters had symbolically lowered a picture of Karzai and put up a picture of Abdullah in its place.
Abdullah spoke about the people’s disappointment that he has not been chosen to form the government. “The people were waiting and waiting …,” he claimed.
He said that both US President Barack Obama and his Secretary of State John F. Kerry had called him on Tuesday to say Kerry would be arriving in Kabul on Friday to mediate the crisis.
The US secretary of state has promised to stand on the side of the Afghan people against the fraud in the elections. Abdullah had alleged “industrial-scale fraud” before withdrawing his observers from the IEC.
A statement from Kerry said, “We call on all Afghan leaders to maintain calm in order to preserve the gains of the last decade and maintain the trust of the Afghan people… Any action to take power by extralegal means will cost Afghanistan the financial and security support of the United States and the international community.”
Abdullah was paying heed when he told the loya jirga to give him “more time” to take a decision. He said he has devoted all his life to national unity and territorial integrity. “I don’t want crisis, civil war and break-up … No doubt we are winners of the elections. … I assure you I would announce a government of our wish.”
Rigorous audit
UNAMA, which has played a key role in negotiations between the candidates, noted the results were not final, and “it would be premature for either of the candidates to claim victory”. It advised the IEC and IECC to cooperate within the framework of their mandates to “conduct additional audits – notably those supported by both candidates which would provide for the investigation of ballots from more than 7,000 polling stations – in a rigorous, timely and expeditious manner.”
US special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan James Dobbins who has announced he is leaving his position at the end of the month, has described the election standoff as “serious’ in an interview with The New York Times.
He reminded the candidates that Kerry would not stay for an indeterminate length of time, and therefore the matter of sorting out the impasse should be a priority for the two sides.
What is the view of experts?
Political analyst Abdul Hamid Mubarez saw danger for Afghanistan in the loya jirga by Abdullah’s supporters. However, Abdul Ghafoor Lewal, head of the Regional Studies Centre, said it would be prudent for both candidates to honour the people’s wishes. A parallel government or unending crisis was not their wish.
