Iran Press/ Asia: Ashraf Ghani has secured a second term in office after winning the presidential election after months of delayed results and bitter dispute, final results showed on Tuesday.
Afghanistan’s independent election commission says President Ashraf Ghani has won a second term as president.
The commission announced Tuesday that Ghani garnered 923,592 votes, or 50.64 percent, in the election that took place last Sept. 28. Challenger and chief executive Abdullah Abdullah received 720,841 votes or 39.52 percent.
Election results were repeatedly delayed amid accusations of misconduct and technical problems with counting ballots.
Hawa Alam Nuristani, head of the election commission, has said previously that 1.8 million Afghan citizens voted in the election out of some 9.6 million eligible.
Supporters of Ghani’s leading challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, accuse Afghanistan’s election commission of favoring Ghani and have threatened to form a parallel government if the commission announced results that did not satisfy their grievances.
Abdullah in December agreed to allow a ballot recount in provinces where his supporters had stopped the process for almost a month. The election commission had tried to launch a ballot recount in November but Abdullah halted the attempt, saying he wouldn’t let his observers participate.
Abdullah, who serves as the country’s chief executive in a fragile national unity government with President Ashraf Ghani The results come days after U.S. Defence Secretary Mark Esper announced a truce agreement between the United States and the Taliban that could lead to the withdrawal of American troops from the country.
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Ashraf Ghani declared winner of Afghanistan's Presidential Election
