KABUL, Afghanistan: Afghanistan’s election commission said the president has won a second term, earning 50.64% in a preliminary vote count announced Sunday, but his opponents can still challenge the result.
Results for the Sept. 28 presidential polls have been repeatedly delayed amid accusations of misconduct and technical problems with counting ballots.
Ashraf Ghani’s appears to have beaten out his main challenger Abdullah Abdullah, who serves as the country’s chief executive in a fragile national unity government.
The election commission’s announcement did not say when the final results will be presented.
It was not immediately clear if the results mean the second round of voting won’t be needed. Afghanistan’s election laws say that a runoff must take place if no candidate obtains over 50% in the results.
The preliminary results found Ghani won 923,868 votes, 50.64%, while Abdullah won 720,990 votes, according to the head of the Independent Election Commission, Hawa Alam Nuristani.
She did not give a specific percentage for Abdullah during the press conference in the capital, Kabul, but he appeared to have received 39,52%.
The preliminary vote count was originally set to be announced Oct. 17, and the final tally on Nov. 7.
Abdullah agreed earlier in December to allow a ballot recount in provinces where his supporters had stopped the process for over a month.
The Afghan Election Commission had tried to launch a ballot recount in November but Abdullah halted the attempt, saying he wouldn’t let his observers participate.
Thousands of Abdullah’s supporters rallied in November in the capital against what they said was the presence of faked ballots amid a controversial recount that seemed set to favor Ghani.
The unity government between Ghani and Abdullah was cobbled together by the United States after Afghanistan’s controversial 2014 presidential election. Because of accusations of widespread fraud, no results were announced in that race, and the two leading contenders, Ghani and Abdullah, agreed to share power.
The partnership has been fraught with bickering and rifts.
If the preliminary results hold and Ghani remains president, it will give him the authority he has been seeking to demand a leading role in peace talks with the Taliban.
Until now, he and his government have been sidelined over the last year of direct talks between the US and the Taliban. Washington seeks to withdraw its troops and bring to an end its longest war, ending 18 years of fighting in Afghanistan.
It’s not clear how the Taliban will respond to Ghani’s win. Ghani has been demanding a cease-fire before engaging in talks, something the Taliban have steadfastly refused.
The Taliban currently control or hold sway over half the country.
Afghan president wins 2nd term in preliminary vote count
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Afghan president wins 2nd term in preliminary vote count
- Results for the Sept. 28 presidential polls have been repeatedly delayed amid accusations of misconduct and technical problems
- If Ghani remains president, it will give him the authority to demand a leading role in peace talks with the Taliban
India says accomplice of Delhi car blast ‘suicide bomber’ arrested
- The explosion on Monday took place near a busy metro station close to the landmark Red Fort in the capital’s Old Delhi quarter
- It was the most significant security incident since 26 tourists were killed in Pahalgam on April 22, triggering clashes with Pakistan
NEW DELHI: Indian authorities said on Sunday that a deadly car blast in New Delhi last week was an attack carried out by a “suicide bomber,” announcing the arrest of an accomplice.
The National Investigation Agency (NIA), the country’s counter-terrorism law enforcement body, said the attacker and the second suspect were both from Indian-administered Kashmir, where police have carried out sweeping raids in recent days.
Announcing “a breakthrough” in the investigation, the NIA said it had arrested Amir Rashid Ali, describing him as an accomplice of the “suicide bomber” under whose name “the car involved in the attack was registered.”
He had come to Delhi to “facilitate the purchase of the car which was eventually used as a vehicle-borne Improvised Explosive Device (IED) to trigger the blast,” according to a statement from the counter-terrorism agency.
It identified the driver as Umar Un Nabi, a resident of Kashmir who was an assistant professor in general medicine at a university in the northern state of Haryana.
The explosion on Monday took place near a busy metro station close to the landmark Red Fort in the capital’s Old Delhi quarter, where the prime minister delivers the annual Independence Day address.
A hospital official has said the blast killed 12 people. It was unclear whether Nabi was included in the toll.
The NIA’s statement said the attack “claimed 10 innocent lives and left 32 others injured.”
The NIA said it had seized another vehicle belonging to Nabi.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has called the attack a “conspiracy,” and his government vowed to bring the “perpetrators, their collaborators and their sponsors” to justice.
It was the most significant security incident since April 22, when 26 mainly Hindu civilians were killed at the tourist site of Pahalgam in Indian-administered Kashmir, triggering clashes with Pakistan.
Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence from British rule in 1947, and both claim the Himalayan territory in full. Tensions remain high between New Delhi and Islamabad.
