US diplomat, president discuss UN proposal

KABUL (Pajhwok): Visiting US Secretary of State John Kerry on Friday held talks with President Hamid Karzai on the ongoing deadlock over the result of the runoff election.

A UN proposal, whose details are not yet known, to arrive at a solution and views of the presidential hopefuls on the situation came up for discussion at the meeting.

Any settlement based on the relevant law and supported by the two candidates — Dr. Ashraf Ghani and Dr. Abdullah — was acceptable to him, Karzai said in a statement from his office.

The president supported a role for the UN mission in helping break the impasse, saying necessary preparations had been being made for his successor’s inauguration.

On Friday night, UN Secretary General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan Jan Kubis met Karzai, the chief justice, head of the Commission for Monitoring Implementation of the Constitution, chairmen and members of the election bodies.

The top UN diplomat briefed his interlocutors on the talks he has held with the presidential candidates. He also floated proposals for resolving the problem and investigating votes from over 8,000 polling stations — 43 percent or 3.5 million ballots.

Kubis will formally present the proposals to the Independent Election Commission, the Independent Electoral Complaints Commission and the presidential hopefuls today.

US Foreign Secretary John Kerry arrived in Afghanistan late Thursday night to help resolve the deadlock over the presidential election, a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.

Deeply concerned over the electoral crisis, Kerry will meet the presidential contenders and other stakeholders on how to come out of the situation.

The Independent Election Commission (IEC) declared Ahmadzai as winner in the preliminary results but his rival alleged widespread rigging and suspended relations with the electoral bodies.

During the 2009 presidential election, Kerry had been able to convince Abdullah into accepting the results that saw Karzai elected for a second term.  

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