Afghan presidential election loser Abdullah Abdullah on Tuesday contested final results that declared his rival Ashraf Ghani the winner of last year's poll, vowing he would form his own parallel government.
"Our team, based on clean and biometric votes, is the victor and we declare our victory. The fraudsters are the shame of history and we announce our inclusive government," Abdullah said at a press conference in Kabul.
Earlier Tuesday, Afghan election officials said final results showed he had won 39.52 per cent of last September's vote, while Ghani had taken 50.64 per cent according to the Independent Election Commission (IEC).
The reults come nearly five months after the actual polls were held in September, whose results have since been challenged multiple times over allegations of fraud.
Preliminary results announced in December saw Ghani win by a slim margin, but these too were challenged by Abdullah. For the last five years, the two have shared power in a unity government after a US-brokered deal sought to ease tensions after the 2014 polls—which saw a similar scene play out.
Only 1.8 million our of Afghanistan's 9.6 million registered voters came to vote in the elections, which were marred by Taliban threats and attacks. A campaign rally by Ghani was attacked by a suicide bomber in September 2019, leaving 26 dead and 42 wounded.
The election saw a biometric voter identification system put into place for the first time, where the fingerprints and photo of every voter was recorded at the time of voting.
On Tuesday, reports also emerged that a US-Taliban peace deal would be soon declared in Qatar, according to a Taliban source speaking to AFP. Earlier reports of a similar nature had ended in failure after US President Donald Trump axed proceedings. However, this time may be different. "Even last time, we were committed to sign the deal, but it was US President Trump's decision to backtrack from what both the teams had agreed in Doha," the Taliban source said.
With inputs from agencies (AFP)
