Afghan election standoff ends, all ballots will be audited

By IANS English

Updated: Sunday, July 13, 2014, 3:04 [IST]

kerry-afghanistan — U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry shakes hands with Afghan presidential candidate Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai at the start of a meeting at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, Friday, July 11, 2014. PTI

Kabul, July 13: The Afghan presidential election standoff ended Saturday after two days of intense talks between two presidential candidates and the US Secretary of State John Kerry.

Kerry during a joint press conference with two presidential runners late Saturday announced that all ballots cast during June 14 runoff polls will be audited.

The two runners Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai and Abdullah Abdullah have reached an agreement to audit all votes and form a unity government.

The final numbers of the elections will be declared on July 22

Preliminary results announced by Afghanistan's election officials secured Ghani 56.44 percent and Abdullah garnered 43.56 percent of votes in the presidential runoff.

Both candidates alleged fraud in the election.

Votes are being re-counted at more than 7,000 polling stations.

The final official numbers will be declared July 22.

Hamid Karzai is stepping down after more than 10 years as the Afghan president.

IANS