The two candidates in Afghanistan’s disputed presidential election remain deadlocked over the announcement of the results of a vote recount, officials said Tuesday.
The two rival camps – of Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai and Abdullah Abdullah – said they could not agree on how the results should be declared.
“We want the vote results to have no winner or loser. Otherwise, it loses legitimacy,” said Ali Amiri, a spokesman for Abdullah.
Supporters of Ghani, who won the second round run-off according to initial results, said however that the winner and the loser should be specified when the results are announced.
“This is not only our demand, but the wish of the people, as they voted despite dozens of problems,” said Ghani spokesman Daud Sultanzoy.
For the past three months, the two rival candidates have been deadlocked on the vote audit, while simultaneously trying to negotiate over a US-brokered deal on a national unity government, with limited progress.
Both candidates claim to have won the June 14 run-off vote. A UN-supervised audit of all 8.1 million votes has been completed, but Abdullah has said he would reject the results.
Abdullah and Ghani were meeting in Kabul later Tuesday, the rival camps said.
On Monday a spokesman for President Hamid Karzai said there had been a “breakthrough” in negotiations between the two candidates, but on Tuesday officials said the deadlock was not over.
“There is no change in our position and views regarding the national unity government. We are hopeful we will reach an agreement, but I am not so sure of that,” Amiri said.
“Our door for negotiation is always open. The two leaders talked yesterday with the president, and are meeting alone right now,” Sultanzoy said.
Mahmood Karzai, a brother of the president and a key ally of Abdullah, told US media on Monday that “if the negotiations break down, if there is a threat of civil war, then there are alternatives.”
“There could be an interim government, or the president could stay on,” he told the Wall Street Journal newspaper.