Ashraf Ghani declared winner of Afghanistan's presidential election

Ashraf Ghani declared winner of Afghanistan’s presidential election

KABUL: Incumbent President Ashraf Ghani has been declared the winner of Afghanistan’s presidential election on Tuesday.

The Independent Election Commission (IEC) announced on Tuesday that Ashraf Ghani scraped over 50.64 percent of votes or 923,592 ballots beating Abdullah Abdullah who secured 39.52 votes or 720,841 ballots in last year’s Afghanistan presidential election.

“Our team, based on clean and biometric votes, is the victor and we declare our victory. The fraudsters are the shame of history and we announce our inclusive government,” Abdullah said at a news conference in the capital, Kabul.

Afghanistan Presidential Election was held in September 2019 and results were on hold due to the threat of violence and concern over electoral fraud.

The news of Ghani’s victory comes after US announces a plan to reduce violence in Afghanistan yet the United States has not set a date to withdraw forces from Afghanistan.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said earlier on Saturday that NATO and the US are prepared to reduce their military presence in Afghanistan if the Taliban demonstrates a willingness to reduce violence and come to the negotiating table.

Follow INCPAK on Facebook / Twitter / Instagram for updates.