Candidates Must Respect the Audit Process: UN

10 years ago | Posted in: Afghanistan, Latest Politics News | 695 Views

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) has asked the two presidential candidates to honor the commitments they had made to the vote auditing process and allow the procedure move forward smoothly.

The United Nations (UN) Special Envoy to Afghanistan, Ján Kubiš, asserted that there is no alternative except respecting the public mandate, asking the involved parties to permit the audit process to move forward without further delays.

Kubiš said that UNAMA has supported Afghanistan in overcoming the electoral stalemate, provided financial assistance to the country and called on international observers and technical experts to oversee the auditing process. He assured that the audit process will discard the fake votes.

“There is no other option except respecting the will of the people of Afghanistan through strong mechanisms requested by the candidates and formed by us,” UNAMA spokeswoman Neelab Mubarez said.

Meanwhile, presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah’s campaign team has stated that they have accepted the UN proposal, asking the rival team to also honor its commitments.

“We had asked to increase the transparency of the auditing process. The process defeats its purpose if the fake votes are not invalidated,” head of Abdullah’s technical team, Fazel Ahmad Manavi, said. “We welcome any recommendations by the UN and the rival team for the invalidation of the fake votes.”

In response, presidential candidate Ashraf Ghani-Ahmadzai’s camp said that the team has always been committed to the agreements.

“From the day the audit process started till now, the ‘Continuity and Convergence’ team has been committed to the process. We have not made a single violation that would delay the process,” a member of Ghani-Ahmadzai’s camp, Mohammad Tahir Zuhair, said. “We ask our rival team to avoid making excuses and continue with the process till the end.”

The Afghan election stalemate was broken after the presidential candidates pledged to let the audit process move forward and discuss the establishment of the “national unity government” with the mediation of the UN and the U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

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