Afghanistan’s two presidential rivals agreed yesterday to an audit of every vote cast in last month´s disputed election, a major breakthrough in a bitter standoff that raised fears of violence and ethnic unrest.
The surprise deal between Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah, reached after two days of frantic negotiations brokered by US Secretary of State John Kerry, will see the eventual victor lead a “government of national unity”.
Ghani, Abdullah and Kerry joined hands at the end of a news conference in Kabul and raised them in triumph after securing the breakthrough.
The deadlock over the run-off vote to choose a successor to outgoing President Hamid Karzai plunged Afghanistan into political crisis and dented US hopes of a smooth transfer of power as Washington seeks to withdraw all its troops by late 2016.
Preliminary results of the second-round vote released on Monday put Ghani in the lead, but Abdullah — who has already once lost a presidential bid in controversial circumstances — declared himself the true winner, saying massive fraud robbed him of victory.
“Both candidates have committed to participate in and stand by the results of the largest possible audit. Every single ballot that was cast will be audited, all eight million,” Kerry told the news conference, which had been delayed by six hours amid last-minute shuttle diplomacy.
“The winner will serve as president and will immediately form a government of national unity.”
