Afghanistan’s presidential candidates have agreed to an audit of all ballots in order to end the election deadlock, US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Saturday night in Kabul.
The announcement was made by the two candidates — Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai and Abdullah Abdullah — and Mr. Kerry after approximately 48 hours of discussion.
“With respect to the election, both candidates have committed to participate in and abide by the results of the largest and most comprehensive possible audit,” Mr. Kerry said.
Mr. Kerry met with both Mr. Ahmadzai, who was declared the winner on Monday with 56 per cent of the vote, and Mr. Abdullah, who has challenged the results as fraudulent.
“The audit will be carried out in Kabul and will begin in 24 hours,” Mr. Kerry said.
According to Mr. Kerry, the auditing process will start from the Afghan capital, and ballot boxes from the provinces will be transported to Kabul by international security assistance forces.
Both presidential rivals have agreed to the deal to audit every vote cast in the June 14 second-round poll.
Mr. Abdullah gave credit to Mr. Kerry, U.N. secretary Yan Kubis and Mr. Ahmadzai for their “serious efforts” in helping bring about the agreement.
“We have a technical agreement and a framework of national unity government once ... the votes are cleaned,” he said.
Previously, Mr. Abdullah had accused the government, electoral authorities and Mr. Ahmadzai’s camp of being a “triangle of fraud”. He asked the United States and United Nations to mediate in the process.
Meanwhile, Mr. Ahmadzai offered his commitment to the ballot audit to the election deadlock.
“I strongly emphasize that we will not defend a single vote that has been fraudulent. Because fraud (has) no place in our national culture (of) accountability and democracy,” he said.
Both candidates also called on outgoing President Hamid Karzai to postpone the handover date, which was scheduled for August 2, in order to provide enough time for the audit.
Mr. Karzai endorsed the agreement and called for the audit to begin as soon as possible.
While he was “against foreign intervention in the election process,” Mr. Karzai said he agreed with the candidates’ call for an “expedient resolution” of the election dispute.