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Afghani Presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah on Tuesday claimed victory in Afghanistan’s disputed election, and said that election fraud is the reason why he was not leading the preliminary results on Monday, which poll rival Ashraf Ghani led.
At a rally in Kabul comprising of thousands of supporters, Abdullah said that he would continue to fight for the Presidency, and called for patience from supporters who demanded that he declare a “parallel government” to rule the country.
“We are proud, we respect the votes of the people, we were the winner. Without any doubt or hesitation, we will not accept a fraudulent result, not today, not tomorrow, never”, he said. A huge photograph of President Hamid Karzai was torn down from the stage before Abdullah spoke.
The current election stand-off has triggered concern that the protests could lead to ethnic violence and possibly fighting between warlords, similar to clashes which ravaged Afghanistan during the Afghan civil war from 1992 to 1996.
Both Ghani and Abdullah have called on Afghani citizens to remain united as the country faces as a difficult transition, as 50,000 US-led NATO soldiers wind down their fight against Taliban extremists and aid money for Afghanistan declines.
“Afghanistan’s unity is never in question. We accept the preliminary result of the election, and I ask all my countrymen to patiently wait for the final results.Our votes are clean and will pass any auditing”, Ghani said.
The United States, the United Nations and President Karzai called for all candidates to honor the election timetable, which lets complaints and audits before the release is officially released on July 24th.
“The results are not final and are subject to change, and… it would be premature for either of the candidates to claim victory”, the UN mission in Afghanistan said, urging both campaigns to stop supporters “from taking steps that could lead to civil disorder and instability”.