KABUL: The rival candidates in Afghanistan’s messy election for a new president finally struck a power-sharing deal on Saturday, aides said, after more than two months of tension over a vote in which each side accused the other of fraud.

Teams from both sides met late into the night with United Nations representatives to try to finalise a power-sharing deal before Sunday’s scheduled announcement of the final election results after a UN-monitored audit and recount.

“Both camps have agreed 100 per cent on everything and we’ll sign the deal tomorrow. Everything has been initialled and there is no disagreement on anything,” said Faizullah Zaki, spokesman for front-running candidate and former finance minister Ashraf Ghani.

Mujib Rahimi, the spokesman for Abdullah Abdullah, a former foreign minister, confirmed a deal had finally been struck, but did not give any details.

Power-sharing agreement to be signed today

Aimal Faizi, a spokesman for President Hamid Karzai, said the deal would be formally signed on Sunday at a ceremony.

Preliminary results released in July put Mr Ghani ahead with 56 per cent of the vote, prompting street protests from supporters of Mr Abdullah, who alleged massive fraud and said he was the rightful winner.

The dispute ruined hopes for a smooth democratic transition to replace Mr Karzai, who has held power since the Taliban’s Islamist government was ousted in 2001, and threatened to rekindle the ethnic tensions that had plunged Afghanistan into civil war in the 1990s.

Published in Dawn, September 21st, 2014