By Hojin Choi

Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

KABUL, Afghanistan – Afghanistan’s Election Commission finally announced Ashraf Ghani as the president-elect. The announcement was made Sunday after Ghani and the runner up, Abdullah Abdullah, signed a power-sharing deal. Ghani’s presidential inauguration will be held on September 29.

The Commission Chief, Ahmad Yousuf Nuristani, stated that “[t]he Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan declared Dr. Asraf Ghani . . . as the president of Afghanistan.” This announcement will end the political chaos following the presidential runoff on June 14. While experiencing nationwide terrorists’ attacks on the day of election, Candidate Abdullah insisted election fraud and vote rigging, and his supporters denied the election result. At the time, millions of ballots were suspected of fraud, and Abdullah’s supporters warned to establish “parallel governments.”

The Election Commission went on to review polling stations and ballot papers under a U.N. audit, but the result was unsuccessful.

“Although the audit was comprehensive . . . [we] could not detect or throw out fraud completely,” said Commission Chief Nuristani. The commission withheld the final election numbers. Nuristani said the commission will announce it later, but did not specify when. He did not take further questions from reporters.

Ghani (right) and Abdullah (left) signing the power sharing deal (Reuters)

The details of the power-sharing deal were not disclosed to the public. Reportedly, Abdullah will be in a position named “Chief Executive” that is similar to prime minister. They will also share powers over controlling the nation’s institutes and government agencies, including the military forces. The incumbent president, Karzai, made clear that the former government and administration will not be responsible for the deal and that Ghani and Abdullah will have to work on fulfilling the commitment.

The public reaction varied. The Afghan public seems happy for the end of months of political unrest, but some worried with the possible effects of the deal. Afghan resident Sharifullah told Voice of America that he was disappointed because the hardship people suffered through to vote while under the violence of terrorists was wasted. He added the political deal would harm the principle of democracy in Afghanistan.

The U.N. and the U.S. both welcomed the agreement and described it as an important step toward achieving social stability in Afghanistan. TIME reported that the deal is a “victory for U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry,” as he is the one who first got the candidates to agree in principle to the power-sharing arrangement when he visited Afghanistan in July. TIME also said he revisited to seal the deal in August. John Kerry stated that Ghani and Abdullah have “put the people of Afghanistan first, and they have ensured that the first peaceful democratic transition in the history of their country begins with national unity.”

For more information, please see:

TIME – Afghanistan Finally Has a New President – 21 September 2014

BBC – Afghan presidential contenders sign unity deal – 21 September 2014

Voice of America – Ashraf Ghani Named President-elect in Afghanistan – 21 September 2014

Author: Impunity Watch Archive