Following the announcement of preliminary results of the presidential election on Saturday, six of the eight candidates began taking steps to join forces with the two leading contenders, Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai.
Afghan law requires there to be a runoff between the top two candidates if no one gets over 50 percent of the original popular vote. According to the Independent Election Commission (IEC), Abdullah Abdullah leads the pack with 44.9 percent of votes, Ashraf Ghani has 31.5 percent and Zalmai Rassoul trails with 11.5 percent.
Jawed Faisal, a member of Zalmai Rassoul's campaign team, confirmed that in the past few days Rassoul has held meetings with both leading candidates about forming a coalition for the sake of stability and national interests. He said no deal was yet finalized.
“The two leading teams have consulted us and both want us to cooperate with them and together work with them in their election campaigns," Faisal said. "Members of our leadership board are continuing their inter party talks and we will announce a coalition with one of the candidates after these meetings."
Abdul Rab Rassoul Sayyaf's campaign member Dawood Kalakani also said that there had been meetings with five presidential candidates even before the preliminary results were announced in order to hear their perspectives on the issue of a possible runoff round. He said talks were still ongoing.
“Sayyaf had meetings with Dr. Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, but the discussions require more, so we have consulted all the frontrunners, and the final decision will be announced later,” Kalakani said.
Presidential candidate Mohammad Shafiq Gul Agha Sherzai confirmed that he had met with Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani, but also said that no deal had yet been made.
“For the sake of the country, we don’t want to see chaos and conflicts in Afghanistan and the country destroyed," Sherzai said on Monday. "Soon we will announce our support to a candidate - maybe Abdullah or Ashraf Ghani - and the six candidates will announce their stance soon."
“Our decision will be program based, the candidate who accepts our economic, social and political programs that we formulated for the sake of the country, we will support him and will ensure his success,” Sherzai added.
Two of the eight presidential candidates - Qutbuddin Helal and Hedayat Amin Arsala - have said that they will soon announce who they plan to back heading into an anticipated runoff vote.
The IEC has said it will known whether or not the runoff round will be held once final results are announced by May 14. The election scheduled originally scheduled the second round for sometime before May 28, but officials have indicated that if it does take place, it would likely be in early June.
Source/Fuente: http://www.tolonews.com/elections2014/six-candidates-looks-join-leading-...
