KABUL, February 18: Ashraf Ghani has secured a second term as president of Afghanistan, according to final results announced Tuesday, lining him up to become the man negotiating with the Taliban over the war-torn country s future if the US agrees to withdraw its troops.
The results came nearly five months after the September 28 2019 poll, after vote-rigging allegations by Ghani s main rival, Abdullah Abdullah, who served as Afghanistan s chief executive, forced a recount. Election commission chief Hawa Alam Nuristani said Ghani had taken 50.64 percent of the votes, compared to Abdullah s 39.52 percent. “May God help him in serving the people of Afghanistan… I also pray that peace comes to our country,” she added at a press conference in the capital Kabul. “The results announced by the commission have no legitimacy,” Abdullah s election campaign spokesman Faraidoon Khwazoon told AFP. – Agencies
