As the Independent Election Commission (IEC) says it has drafted the timetable for the upcoming presidential election, some political parties have already begun discussions to form an alliance or choose a potential candidate for the presidential race.
Reports in local media on Sunday indicated that leaders of three major political parties, which used to be part of the former Northern Alliance, Jamiat-e-Islami Afghanistan, Junbish-e-Mili Afghanistan and Wahdat-e- Islami, gathered on Saturday night to find common grounds for an alliance in the 2019 presidential poll.
According to the reports, the meeting was held at former vice president and JIA member Ahmad Zia Masood’s house in Kabul.
JIA Head Salahuddin Rabbani and Executive Chief Atta Mohammad Noor, members Ismail Khan, Yonous Qanoni, Ahmad Zia Masood, Junbish member and Dostum’s son Batur Dostum and Mohammad Mohaqiq from Wahdat party were attending the consultative meeting.
Jomhor News Agency reported that after the gathering, former Balkh governor Atta Mohammad Noor without elaboration wrote on his Facebook page: “The trilateral summit of Jamiat-e- Islami, Junbish-e-Mili and Wahdat-e- Islami leadership was held to discuss the country’s current situation and their future decisions.”
However, first vice president Gen. Dostum’s office implicitly said the gathering agenda was the upcoming presidential election.
In the meantime, some other reports said it’s highly likely that the political alliance will announce their candidate for presidential election next week.
Spogmai FM, a Kabul-based local radio station, said it had acquired credible information that the political parties decided at the Saturday night meeting to convene another meeting till the end of the week, and announce their presidential runner before the end of the week to come.
According to the information, Atta Mohammad Noor, Yonous Qanoni and Ahmad Zia Masood expressed their willingness to run for presidency. The participants decided that one person should be picked from them, and will be declared as presidential runner. It was also decided that their potential candidate for the first vice president position has to be a Pashtun from Kandahar. The political parties are trying to convince former deputy foreign minister Hakmat Karzai to accept the running mate offer. It is worth mentioning that Karzai resigned from his position some days back.
This comes as IEC on Saturday announced it has already drafted the timetable for presidential election, and will share it with political parties, government and other stakeholders this week.
On Sunday, the Presidential Palace reiterated its commitment to hold the presidential election on time, with a presidential spokesman, Shah Hussain Mortazawi, stressing that the government has the necessary political will for the election.
