The Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan announced the preliminary presidential election results after a prolonged delay.

Hawa Alam Nuristani, the head of Independent Election Commission announced the preliminary election results of the Afghan presidential elections held on September 28.

According to the results announced, President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani has secured 923,868 out of 1,824,401 votes casted which makes almost 50.64%.

Ghani’s main rival Abdullah Abdullah has got 720,099 votes which makes 39.52% of the total votes casted.

Gulbduddin Hekmatyar with 70,243 (3.85%), Rahmatullah Nabil with 33921 (1.86%) and Faramarz Tammana with 18,066 (0.99%) votes respectively stand on 3rd, 4th and 5th places.

The candidates have 72 hours to file complaints with the electoral complains commission after the preliminary results announcement, said Nuristani.

On the September 28, 4.55% of Afghanistan’s population took risk and participated in the presidential election, casting their votes; out of which nearly 2.3% have voted to Mohammad Ashraf Ghani.

The Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan reported that the participation proportion was 31/69% gender-based.

31% women had participated in the 2019 presidential election, Hawa Alam Nuristani said.

A map published by the Election Commission indicates that Ghani has the highest votes in the 16 south and easter provinces, however his main rival Abdullah Abdullah has got the highest votes in another 18 provinces of the central and northern provinces of Afghanistan.

In the map below, the blue color indicates Abdullah Abdullah’s highest votes zones and the green color shows the places Ashraf Ghani has secured highest votes from.

Candidates Reactions

President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani welcomed the elections results announced by IEC, writing a post on his Facebook wall.

President Ghani has said he will file some complaints with the electoral complaints commission soon.

The ‘Stability and Convergence’ electoral team released a press statement right after the results announcement, claiming the election commission has not invalidated the fraudulent votes and they do not accept the results.

Abdullah Abdullah arrived from New Delhi on Sunday evening and said he will not accept the results as the fraudulent votes have also been counted.

The electoral complaints commission to separate the fraudulent votes from genuine votes and proceed carefully to evaluate and process the complaints according to the law and procedures, Abdullah said.

Abdullah claimed victory and reassured his supporters that he will defend from their votes and rights.

According to the ‘Stability and Convergence’ electoral team 300,000 thousands suspicious and fraudulent votes have been counted and they demand the IECC to invalidate them.

The election will go to a second round if at least 12,000 votes of President Ghani are invalidated.

Rahmatullah Nabil, who stands in the 4th place also criticized and expressed the results were unacceptable

International Community’s Reactions

John R. Bass, US Ambassador to Kabul thanked the IEC commissioners and staff for their performance.

“It’s important for all Afghans to remember these results are preliminary. Many steps remain before final election results are certified, to ensure the Afghan people have confidence in the results”, John Bass tweeted.

“We support the vital work of the Afghanistan’s electoral complaints commission in adjudicating complaints before a final result is certified.”, US Ambassador has said.

The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) in a statement welcomed the preliminary election results and praised the Afghanistan electoral bodies.

“On 28 September 2019, the citizens of Afghanistan braved security threats to cast their votes for a better future, those voters deserve to be commended for carrying out their civic duty,” Tadamichi Yamamoto, the UN Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan has said.

Now, all Afghan authorities and actors must demonstrate their commitment to safeguard and complete the election, and to protect the integrity of the final stage of the process, Yamamoto said.

Sir Nicolas Kay, the NATO Senior Civil Representative to Afghanistan has also welcomed the election results announcements and has praised the Afghanistan National Defense Forces for their support in securing presidential elections.