Abdullah Abdullah, a frontrunner of Afghan presidential election, claimed victory in Saturday’s poll, saying his electoral ticket, Stability and Convergence, will form the future government.
Talking to a presser in Kabul, Abdullah claimed that his team has hit the threshold, so there is no need for a run-off, but adding that they will wait for official announcement of the results by the election bodies.
“We have the highest votes. We were busy assessing the results from different provinces and we reached a conclusion that we have the highest votes,” Abdullah claimed.
He also said that in coming days as the fraudulent votes are going to be declared null and void, percentage of his team’s votes will further rise.
“In current situation, election does go to a run-off and Stability and Convergence team will form the next government,” Abdullah said.
He said that the future leader of the country will be only elected with the clean votes of the Afghan people, stressing that votes without biometric verification will not be counted.
“Votes with no biometric verification have no credibility at all. This is also the stance of election commission and we want this to be fully implemented, and we will strictly observe the process,” Abdullah said.
He called on the IEC to prevent votes without biometric authentication from being added to database.
Without providing any details, Abdullah claimed that some local officials in some provinces had interfered in the election process, vowing they will be held accountable for their actions.
Despite all the problems, he said the presidential election was an important step towards the institutionalization of democracy in the country.
“The glitches happened on the election day should have been prevented… These are issues that require assessment to formulate a good election system that can address the demands of the people of Afghanistan,” he said.
Abdullah thanked Afghan National Defense and Security Forces for providing security despite Taliban’s threats to disturb the national process.
Abdullah’s claim of victory comes as the Independent Election Commission says no body has the right to announce himself winner as the right of result declaration lies with IEC.
