On the first day of runoff campaigning Former Afghan president Sibghatollah Mujadidi announced his support for presidential candidate Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai.
Mujadidi said he had decided that the other candidate, Abdullah Abdullah, was not the right person for the position of president.
“For days and nights I was wondering which candidate to support, so after collecting information and consideration, I decided to support Ashraf Ghani,” he said on Thursday.
The decision came the same day Ahmad Zia Masoud, the former running mate of presidential candidate Zalmai Rassoul, announced his endorsement of Ghani. Masoud’s decision deviated from Rassoul’s public endorsement of Abdullah last week.
Abdullah responded to Mujadidi’s endorsement on Thursday by saying that no candidate can been ordained to win, only chosen by the voters.
“The future is not made through divination, only votes mark the future,” Abdullah said.
Ashraf Ghani has said he wants a face-to-face debate with Abdullah before the runoff takes place on June 14. “We are saying come and debate, and respond to questions for ten minutes, or come and debate for four hours,” he said.
Abdullah, meanwhile, has suggested he is willing to meet for a debate.
“If media reach an agreement to invite both sides for a debate at one time, it would be a good opportunity for the Afghan people to remember some things that they have forgotten,” Abdullah said on Thursday.
Exchanges between the two runoff candidates have heated up over the past week. As the election enters its endgame, tensions between the presidential hopefuls and their supporters have heightened.
Source/Fuente: http://www.tolonews.com/elections2014/sibghatollah-mujadidi-endorses-ash...
