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UN mission welcomes agreement to break election impasse in Afghanistan: spokesman

15 July 2014 01:47 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. A UN spokesman said here Monday that the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan ( UNAMA) welcomed the agreement reached by the two rival presidential candidates on breaking the electoral impasse in the country, APA reports quoting Xinhua.

"The Secretary-General's Special Representative (in Afghanistan) , Jan Kubis, hailed efforts by one of the country's electoral management bodies, the Independent Election Commission, to start the implementation of the audit plan," UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq told reporters at the daily briefing.

"Kubis called the agreement on the audit by the two candidates a sign of statesmanship, wisdom and responsible understanding," Haq said.

According to him, the agreement, which was facilitated by the U. S. Secretary of State John Kerry, involves a complete audit of the results of Afghanistan's presidential election run-off. Both candidates have committed to participating and abiding by the result of this comprehensive audit.

The UN spokesman quoted UNAMA as saying "the agreement also includes the formation of a government of national unity upon the declaration of the final results of the presidential election," adding that "this would augur well for the future stability, prosperity and unity of Afghanistan."

The two candidates, Abdullah Abdullah and his rival Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, agreed late Saturday night on the amicable solution to the political impasse in Afghanistan, which had gripped the country since the second round of the presidential election on June 14.

Afghanistan has been plunged into a political crisis after leading presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah last week rejected the preliminary results and threatened to declare a parallel government if the audit of all "fraudulent votes" were not held.

Ghani Ahmadzai and Abdullah agreed to 100 percent audit of the votes cast in the presidential election run-off after Kerry brokered the deal during his two-day talks in Kabul.

According to Kerry, the audit will be carried out in Kabul and will begin in 24 hours.