New Delhi: India has welcomed the successful completion of Afghan elections in which President Ashraf Ghani appears to be victorious with a very thin majority. New Delhi has lauded all Afghan stakeholders for their hard work to preserve and strengthen democracy in the country.
Ministry of External Affairs also pointed towards the complaints raised by Ashraf Ghani's prime challenger Abdullah Abdullah. He has denounced the preliminary results as fraudulent and vowed to challenge them.
On this, the MEA said, "We expect that the complaints would be addressed through the prescribed legal processes so that the final results are declared in a timely manner."
In the preliminary results announced on Sunday, Ashraf Ghani has secured 50.64% votes while Abdullah Abdullah attained 39.52% votes. Abdullah lost to Ghani in 2014 in a divisive election that saw the US intervene to broker an awkward power-sharing deal between the two rivals.
The preliminary election results were supposed to be announced on October 19 but kept getting delayed due to technical issues and fraud charges by Abdullah Abdullah.
India reiterated it's commitment to work together with all Afghan leaders and other stakeholders to further strengthen the democratic polity.
New Delhi also assured that it is committed to work with the people and Government of Afghanistan in its fight against terrorism and in its pursuit of socio-economic development.
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