ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has welcomed the announcement of preliminary results of Afghan presidential polls and underscored the importance of completion of the already over-delayed process.

“Pakistan welcomes the announcement of preliminary results of Afghan Presidential elections held on 28 September 2019. We note that the final results would be announced after completion of adjudication process within the stipulated time as per Afghan electoral laws,” the Foreign Office said in a statement on Monday.

Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission (IEC) on Sunday released the preliminary results of the Afghan presidential elections. According to the results, President Ashraf Ghani won over 50 per cent of the votes for a second five-year term. The results were to be originally announced on Oct 19, but were delayed because of allegations of fraud and certain technical issues.

Mr Abdullah Abdullah, who is the runner-up in the preliminary results, rejected the outcome and demanded of the election commission to address his “legitimate concerns”.

The election commission would hear the electoral complaints before announcing the final result.

“We support Afghanistan’s democratic process and acknowledge that completion of Afghan presidential elections is a crucial step for political stability of Afghanistan and South Asian region,” the FO further said.

Published in Dawn, December 24th, 2019