Afghans bidding to defuse vote crisis

Rival Afghan presidential candidates Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani held last-minute talks on Monday to try to resolve a standoff over the outcome of a troubled election, as officials once again delayed the announcement of preliminary results.

The deadlock over the June 14 second-round runoff has quashed hopes for a smooth transition of power in Afghanistan, a headache for the West as most US-led forces continue to withdraw from the country this year.

Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission had been due to announce results of the June 14 runoff vote at 2 pm local time, but officials said it would be put off by a few hours.

It was unclear what caused the delay, which came as rival camps struggled to find a last-minute compromise to keep Afghanistan from sliding into a protracted period of uncertainty without a clear leader accepted by all sides.

Ghani's camp said the two sides had agreed to audit an additional 7,100 polling stations to ensure the final result is clean, but Abdullah's aides said the compromise was not final.

Both rounds of the vote to elect a successor to President Hamid Karzai have been plagued by accusations of mass fraud. The refusal by either candidate to accept the outcome could split the fragile country along ethnic lines.

Abdullah, a former anti-Taliban fighter, says results should be delayed until all fraudulent votes have been thrown out. Ghani, a former World Bank official, is believed to be in the lead in the second round.

"Our meetings continued until midnight and there were some improvements, but we haven't reached final agreement," said Mujibul Rahman Rahimi, a spokesman for Abdullah.

Risks of a standoff

Azita Rafhat, a spokeswoman for Ghani's camp, said the two sides had agreed to expand the fraud investigation beyond the 1,930 polling stations that are currently being audited.

"We have agreed to audit ballots from 7,100 polling stations in 10 provinces for more transparency," Rafhat told Reuters.

Abdullah, who has a Pashtun father and a Tajik mother, draws much of his support from the Tajik minority in northern Afghanistan. Ghani, a former World Bank economist, has strong support from Pashtun tribes in the country's south and east.

Refusal by either Abdullah or Ghani to accept the outcome of the election could plunge the country into a dangerous crisis, with the possibility of a bloody standoff between the two ethnic groups or even secession of parts of the country.

Without a clear leader, Afghanistan could split into two or more fiefdoms along tribal fault lines, or even return to the bloody civil war of the 1990s.

But on Monday, both sides appeared keen to find a compromise. Official final results are due on July 22, so election officials still have time to conduct a broader fraud probe that would be suitable to both sides.

(China Daily 07/08/2014 page12)