- Title: Afghanistan's Ghani claims narrow win in preliminary presidential vote results
- Date: 22nd December 2019
- Summary: KABUL, AFGHANISTAN (DECEMBER 22, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WALKING ON STREET, TRAFFIC PASSING (SOUNDBITE) (Dari) RESIDENT OF KABUL, MOHAMMAD JAWAD, SAYING: "Our country's situation is worsening day by day, and the people's economy is going down. Everyone was concerned about the election results, and the people hoped to hear the election results. Now that the election commission announced the results, we support it and are very happy about it." VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WALKING DOWN STREET (SOUNDBITE) (Pashto) RESIDENT OF KABUL, MULLAH JAN, SAYING: "They both (Ashraf Ghani & Abdullah (Abdullah)) haven't done anything for us in the past five years. They just deceived the people, and we don't want them anymore. They both have committed fraud, and the court must try them." VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WALKING DOWN STREET
- Embargoed: 5th January 2020 14:46
- 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: LVA002BB22ZWN
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Afghanistan's incumbent President Ashraf Ghani won a slim majority of votes in a Sept. 28 election, delayed preliminary results showed on Sunday (December 22) after a poll that plunged the country into 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.
In a television speech on Sunday (December 22), Ghani welcomed the result and said the country was now on the right path towards prosperity and development and promised to serve the Afghans equally.
In a statement on Sunday Abdullah's office said he did not accept the preliminary results and that the commission had failed to tackle election fraud.
Kabul residents gave mixed reactions about the result announcement as many Afghans fear a profoundly flawed vote combined with bitter tensions between political camps could drive war-weary Afghanistan into more profound political instability.
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: Samargul Zwak, Sayed Hassib) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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