- Title: Afghanistan’s Abdullah rejects the preliminary election results
- Date: 22nd December 2019
- Summary: KABUL, AFGHANISTAN (DECEMBER 22, 2019) (REUTERS) ***WARNING: CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** SUPPORTERS OF AFGHAN CHIEF EXECUTIVE AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE ABDULLAH ABDULLAH SEATED AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Dari) AFGHAN CHIEF EXECUTIVE AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, ABDULLAH ABDULLAH, SAYING: "Only the clean votes can determine the outcome of the election. While our right in seeking justice, which is transparency of the election do not happen, we allow ourselves every other legitimate option. Defending the right and votes of the Afghan people will be our obligation." ABDULLAH'S SUPPORTERS SEATED (SOUNDBITE) (Dari) AFGHAN CHIEF EXECUTIVE AND PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE, ABDULLAH ABDULLAH, SAYING: "We expect the Election Complaints Commission that based on the law and carefully consider the complaints registered already in the commission, and the other complains that we will be registering from now on. We want them to remove the fraudulent votes from the transparent and clean votes and submit the results based on the law." SUPPORTERS SEATED END OF THE CONFERENCE, ABDULLAH LEAVING PODIUM
- Embargoed: 5th January 2020 17:23
- Keywords: Afghanistan Ashraf Ghani Independent Election Commission (IEC) United States presidential election
- Location: KABUL, AFGHANISTAN
- City: KABUL, AFGHANISTAN
- Country: Afghanistan
- Topics: Government/Politics,Elections/Voting
- Reuters ID: LVA001BB2526F
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: STORY: Afghan chief executive Abdullah Abdullah, the primary challenger to Ashraf Ghani, refused the preliminary results in a news conference and blamed the Independent election commission on Sunday (December 22).
President Ashraf Ghani won a slim majority of votes in a Sept. 28 election, delayed preliminary results showed on Sunday after a poll that plunged the country into a political crisis and was marred by allegations of fraud.
The Independent Election Commission (IEC) said the total turnout in the presidential election was more than 1.8 million with Ghani securing 50.64% - enough to win the first round of voting - beating his main challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, who currently shares power with Ghani in a unity government.
Last month, the IEC began recounting thousands of votes due to what it described as discrepancies in its system. Abdullah's side objected to the recount and called it an attempt to add more votes in favour of Ghani. The IEC dismissed those allegations.
Last week, Abdullah allowed the recount but warned that he would not accept a tainted result.
The election result also comes at a critical time for Afghanistan as the United States is showing more interest in negotiating a peace settlement with the Taliban to end a war that has dragged on for more than 18 years.
(Production: Aziz Mohammad, Sayed Hassib) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2019. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None