Disputed Afghan Election Result to Be Announced Sunday: Official
TEHRAN (Tasnim) - The result of Afghanistan's disputed presidential election will be declared on Sunday, officials said Saturday, as last-minute talks between the two rival candidates continued on a proposed power-sharing deal.
The stalemate between Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah since the June 14 vote has plunged Afghanistan into a political crisis as US-led NATO troops end their 13-year war against the Taliban.
Both men claim to have won the fraud-tainted election, and the United Nations and the United States have pushed hard for a "national unity government" to try to avoid a return to the ethnic divisions of the 1990s civil war.
"The IEC will officially announce the final result of the presidential election tomorrow," Independent Election Commission spokesman Noor Mohammad Noor told AFP.
Mujib Rahman Rahimi, a spokesman for Abdullah, said the two candidates were preparing to sign a deal.
"They are set to meet again shortly today to reach a final agreement," he said. "The IEC is not supposed to announce the final results before the agreement is finalised."
Ghani's campaign team was not immediately available to comment, but said it would issue an update on negotiations later Saturday.
The election process has been plagued by delays and setbacks, and the latest timetable could still change if disputes flare up again over how the new government would take shape.
Ghani -- who won the vote according to preliminary results -- is set to emerge as president, with Abdullah nominating who will fill the new post of "chief executive officer", possibly taking on the role himself.
