Iran Press/Middle East: According to Iran Press, the registration of candidates for Afghanistan's July 20 presidential election closed on January 20 with Afghan president and 14 rivals registered. Candidates include incumbent President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah.
The president has replaced his current first vice president with Amrullah Saleh and introduced Sarwar Danesh as his second vice president.
Amrullah Saleh, who has been serving as the country's interior minister for around a month, resigned on Saturday to run alongside Ghani as the candidate for the first vice president.
Abdullah registered his ticket, which includes two vice presidents and a chief executive, followed by Ghani at the Independent Election Commission in Kabul.
Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah entered the race for Afghanistan’s presidential elections with Junbish-e-Milli member Enayatullah Babur Farahmand as his running mate for first Vice President and former MP Asadullah Saadati as his running mate for the second VP.
Abdullah’s running mate as first vice president, Farahmand, was head of Dostum's office after 2010. He has also represented Jawzjan as a lawmaker in Afghanistan's parliament.
Asadullah Saadati, Abdullah’s running mate for second vice president, is an MP from Daikundi.
At the end of last year, the Afghan Independent Election Commission said that the election would be held on July 20, three months later than initially planned. Sunday marks the last day when candidates can still enter the presidential race and 15 candidates are registered in the list. 103/209
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