NEW DELHI: A visibly worried Centre has for the second time this week sent out a signal that an election result “accepted by all”, which leads to a “smooth” political transition, was extremely important for Afghanistan.
The Centre had on July 8 issued a statement to Afghan Government, stressing on “inclusiveness” to ride over the political crisis triggered by the preliminary results of Presidential elections announced on Monday. US Secretary of State John Kerry was on Saturday busy negotiating in Kabul a compromise between Presidential candidates Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah, while India issued a statement that Afghanistan could not afford disunity at this time. It was also reiteration of the message that India was a stakeholder in the whole process and could not be ruled out.
“A credible, peaceful and transparent election accepted by all and leading to a smooth political transition is essential for the Afghans to achieve this goal and preserve the enormous gains that they have made in the past decade in the face of formidable odds,” said External Affairs Ministry spokesperson Syed Akbaruddin.
He noted that “at this critical juncture of multiple transitions in Afghanistan, the election process should become a source of unity, not of discord”. Akbaruddin said the election process has to be in line with the constitution and the electoral laws of Afghanistan, including on the use of mechanisms for redressing election-related complaints.
Abdullah had rejected the preliminary results, which gave Ghani a clear lead of 56 per cent in the Presidential race. The former Northern Alliance leader had been the winner of the first round, with 45 per cent votes against 36 per cent garnered by the former World Bank official, who is said to be close to Washington.