Final results in Afghanistan’s disputed presidential vote are expected to be released next week, and an election official said yesterday that a winner would be announced whether or not the two rival candidates forge a promised power-sharing deal.
Declaring a victor before a negotiated settlement could mark a new, dangerous phase of the crisis surrounding the vote to succeed President Hamid Karzai, even as most foreign troops prepare to withdraw by the end of the year.
Two months of tension over the fraud-tainted election have already marred the smooth transition that the US-led military force had hoped would mark its exit 13 years after the invasion to oust the Taliban’s radical Islamist regime. Continued instability would provide new openings for the Taliban insurgency against the newly trained Afghan security forces.
Former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani was declared the winner in preliminary results of the June 14 run-off with 56% of the vote. His rival, ex-Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, has charged massive fraud and said he would reject the results if an ongoing audit does not throw out enough ballots to make him president.
Both candidates have pledged to form a unity government and abide by the final results of a UN-monitored recount and fraud audit. But talks about power sharing have broken down.
Final results have been delayed several weeks, forcing Karzai to stay in office past this month’s scheduled inauguration of a new leader.
Sareer Ahmad Barmak, a member of the Independent Election Commission, said the final results would likely be released next week, though he could not give a specific date. “We need two to three days for the technical issues of the vote and then the final result will be ready to be announced,” Barmak said.
