Saturday, September 20, 2014

Afghanistan Election intrigue ( Unity deal reached or not ? Ghani President or not ? ) - Results due Sunday ....Afghan Presidential Candidate Wants Official Vote Count Kept Secret ..........Key meeting at Presidential Palace with President Karzai , and contenders Abdullah Abdullah / Ashraf Ghani postponed - snags regarding Unity Government deal ?

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/asia/2014/09/afghan-rivals-reach-unity-government-deal-2014920175519743582.html


Afghan rivals reach unity government deal

Power-sharing pact, to be signed on Sunday, will end months of crisis following disputed presidential polls in June.

Last updated: 20 Sep 2014 18:30

Earlier results of the June 14 run-offs have led to street protests with Abdullah's supporters claiming fraud [AFP]
Afghanistan's two rival presidential candidates have agreed to sign a power-sharing agreement, a senior government official said, ending a prolonged stand-off over the disputed June 14 election.

"Both candidates are expected to sign an agreement on the structure of  National Unity (Government) tomorrow," Aimal Faizi, spokesman for outgoing President Hamid Karzai, said on his Twitter account on Saturday.

Elections to replace Karzai have led two months of crisis that further destabilised violence-plagued Afghanistan as it braces for foreign troops' withdrawal at year's end, leaving Afghan forces to fight Taliban fighters.

The deal will be signed on the same day that the final results from a recount are to be announced.
A spokesman for front-running candidate, former finance minister Ashraf Ghani, said on condition of anonymity on Saturday night that "100 percent" of outstanding issues had been resolved, and both camps had initialled a power-sharing agreement.

Preliminary results released in July showed Ghani ahead of ex-foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah with 56 percent of the vote.

The early results prompted street protests from supporters of Abdullah, who charged massive fraud and said he was the rightful winner.

Final results have been delayed for weeks by a UN-monitored audit of all eight million ballots cast in the June 14 run-off vote between Ghani and Abdullah, the top finishers of the first round in April.

http://news.antiwar.com/2014/09/20/afghan-candidates-reach-power-sharing-deal/


Afghan Candidates Reach Power-Sharing Deal

Unclear How Deal Will Impact Release of Results

by Jason Ditz, September 20, 2014
The two candidates in Afghanistan’s presidential run-off have finally reached a settlement, proving widespread corruption and ballot-rigging isn’t an obstacle to claiming a “successful” election was held.
Under the deal, Ashraf Ghani will be named president, and Abdullah Abdullah will be given the position of “chief executive,” a new position which was created specifically so neither candidate lost. Both positions are designed to be roughly equivalent in power, but it isn’t clear how the split will ultimately be.
How the results will be released is unclear either, as Abdullah, believed to be trailing in the vote audit, had made a key demand of the power-sharing that the election commission either release results without actual vote numbers or, by contrast, release phony numbers that made the race look closer than it actually was.
The Abdullah camp had released considerable evidence of ballot stuffing being done by the commission itself on behalf of the Ghani campaign, and the two sides couldn’t agree on how the audit would be carried out, meaning the vote was months ago and the results are still unclear.
Ghani has agreed to power-sharing frameworks in the past, but has also ruled out actually complying with those deals, saying that once the audit confirms his victory he’s free to do as he pleases. How that was resolved, as with other terms of the agreement, was not made public.







Tweets.....




 14m
Candidates in 's election strike a deal to form a government of national unity in which would become president.




 3h
: Presidential candidates signed Unity Government deal. The results will be announced tomorrow.




 1h
P Candidate Wants Official Vote Count Kept Secret Abdullah is making a mockery of elections & democracy




 Sep 16
A must-read pieace by Thomas Ruttig Experience with ‘governments of national unity’ elsewhere via




http://www.pajhwok.com/en/2014/09/20/key-meeting-presidential-palace-postponed



GOVERNANCE

Key meeting at Presidential Palace postponed

By Javed Hamem Kakar Sep 20, 2014 - 18:09
KABUL (Pajhwok): A high-level meeting, scheduled for this afternoon at the Presidential Palace, had to be delayed for unannounced reasons on Saturday, a knowledgeable source said.
President Hamid Karzai was to host both presidential runners Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah, as well as notable former jihadileaders at 2pm, one official said.
A source in the Presidential Palace confided to Pajhwok Afghan News the meeting was supposed to take up important issues regarding a unity government deal.
Earlier in the day, while addressing a ceremony marking the death anniversary of former president Burhanuddin Rabbani, Karzai made an allusion to the key session and promised the nation good news from it.
“Heads of the Independent Election Commission (IEC) as well as Independent Electoral Complaints Commission (IECC) and the jihadi leaders were there. But Abdullah did not show up till 5pm,” the source revealed.
Abdullah did reach the venue later on but all others had left by then. It, however, remains unclear whether or not the meeting will take place. IEC says the final results from the presidential elections will be announced tomorrow.  
sks/mud


Final vote results announcement likely today, IEC says

By KHAAMA PRESS - Sat Sep 20 2014, 12:23 pm
(FILES) This combination of photographs created on April 3, 2014, shows Afghan Presidential candidates (L/R): Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai attending a debate at Tolo TV station in Kabul on February 4, 2014, Abdullah Abdullah attending a Hazara gathering in Kabul on March 7, 2014 and Zalmai Rassoul during a political rally in Bamiyan on April 1, 2014. Afghanistan goes to the polls on April 5, 2014, with three contenders dominating the eight-man race to succeed President Hamid Karzai and lead the country without the aid of NATO combat troops to fight the Taliban. Political manoeuvring and speculation have been fevered but with ethnic loyalties likely to play a decisive role, few experts are willing to predict the eventual winner. AFP PHOTO/WAKHIL KOHSAR/HASHMATULLAH/FILESThe Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan (IEC) officials have said they are expecting to release final vote results for the runoff presidential election today.
The officials further added that they have received the final decision of the Independent Electoral Complaints Commission (IECC) regarding the comprehensive vote audit for their review.
IEC spokesman, Noor Mohammad Noor has also confirmed that the final vote results announcement is likely today.
Noor said the election commission hails the efforts of the candidates to reach an agreement on unity government but the commission was not waiting for a deal to release the final vote results.
This comes as the presidential palace hosted a meeting on Friday to help resolve the election deadlock with the mediation of former jihadi leaders, heads of the judicial, executive and legislative organs of the government.
The meeting was organized with an aim to finalize a deal between the two candidates prior to the release of the final vote results.
The electoral camps of Dr. Abdullah and Dr. Ashraf Ghani said Friday that the contenders have finalized the text of the agreement and they are hopeful to sign the agreement on Saturday.

Final vote results announcement confirmed for Sunday

By KHAAMA PRESS - Sat Sep 20 2014, 2:48 pm
Afghanistan ElectionThe Independent Election Commission (IEC) has said that the final vote results announcement has been confirmed for Sunday, September 21st.
IEC spokesman, Noor Mohammad Noor said the final results for the runoff presidential will be released by election commission on Sunday.
Noor had earlier said that the election commission expects to release the final vote results today.
The decision to announce the final vote results comes as presidential candidates Dr. Abdullah and Dr. Ashraf Ghani finalized an agreement to form a national unity government on Friday.
Release of final vote results, share of power and authorities of the chief executive are believed to be the main reasons prohibiting the conclusion of the controversial electoral process.
In the meantime, President Hamid Karzai has once again hosted the two candidates for talks on unity government.
Speaking during the commemoration ceremony of former president Burhanuddin Rabbani’s third death anniversary, President Karzai said he expects a good news for the Afghan people following his meeting with the two candidates.





Dr. Abdullah is the true winner of presidential elections: Noor

By KHAAMA PRESS - Wed Sep 17 2014, 9:00 pm
atta_mohammad_noorAta Mohammad Noor said Wednesday that presidential runner Dr. Abdullah Abdullah is real winner of both rounds of presidential elections.
Noor is an influential political figure being a senior member of Jamiat-e-Islami party and current governor of northern Balkh province of Afghanistan, who has remained a close ally of Dr. Abdullah in presidential elections.
In an online statement, Noor said that Dr. Abdullah deserves to be the president of Afghanistan, insisting that they will defend from the rights of Dr. Abdullah as he is true winner of election.
He warned that Afghanistan is close to witness the so called widespread ‘green and orange’ anti-fraud movements as the rival teams are not prepared to conclude a deal on unity government.
Noor accused the electoral bodies for being involved in massive fraud in favour of Dr. Abdullah’s rival team during the presidential elections.
He said Dr. Abdullah’s rival team is looking to ignore talks on unity government deal and are trying to gain power through fraudulent votes.
This comes as Noor called on his supporters earlier this month to prepare for widespread anti-fraud movements as the Afghan election was once again put at a risk of an impasse after Dr. Abdullah’s camp warned to withdraw from talks and boycott the audit process.
The latest remarks by Noor comes as the two candidates were due to meet today to conclude an agreement on a number of sticky points regarding the formation of a national unity government. However, the negotiations did not take place due to unknown reasons.
Release of final vote results, share of power and authorities of the chief executive are said to be the main reasons prohibiting the conclusion of the controversial electoral process.

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