The Iranian Foreign Ministry says the Islamic Republic respects the popular vote in Afghanistan’s presidential election. In a statement on Wednesday, the Foreign Ministry said the Afghan presidential polls marked an epic event for the Asian country in terms of massive turnout, adding the Afghan people demonstrated their political maturity and firm resolve to determine the fate of their country through polls. “The Islamic Republic of Iran respects the vote of the Afghan people and supports the final winner of the election who will be declared after the complaints are fully reviewed and irregularities investigated,” it said, urging the formation of an inclusive government based on the Afghan nation’s vote. The statement stressed that Iran, as an immediate neighbor of Afghanistan, attaches great significance to the country’s security, stability, solidarity, national unity and territorial integrity, rejecting any move that would result in instability in the country. The statement also said the rightful demands of candidates for a full, accurate and fair investigation into irregularities must be respected. The release of initial results in Afghanistan’s presidential vote showed that Ashraf Ghani won the run-off election with 56.44 percent of the votes while his rival Abdullah Abdullah came in second with 43.56 percent. Abdullah has rejected the initial results of the run-off vote. “We will not accept a fraudulent result — not today, not tomorrow, never. We don’t accept the results of frauds. People of Afghanistan were waiting for the real results,” Abdullah told his supporters on Tuesday. The turnout in the Afghan presidential election was over eight million out of an estimated electorate of 13.5 million voters. The final results will be announced on July 22.
LINK: https://www.ansarpress.com/english/2310