Muhammad Mohaqeq, the Second Vice President of Abdullah Abdullah, has claimed that Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai's campaign does not want to sign the agreement that was made between the two candidates over 22 days ago with the help of the U.S. and United Nations.
Mr. Mohaqeq said that Ashraf Ghani considers Abdullah’s acceptance of the agreement a sign of weakness. “When we accepted this agreement, the other team considered our acceptance of the agreement our weakness, and thought that we are the ones who came second, but we reject it,” Mohaqeq said. "After 22 days, the Continuity and Change team has not signed the agreement yet, showing disrespect to the agreement."
The agreement made between the rival camps was celebrated as a solution to their disagreements over the election process, which many believed threatened to derail this year’s transition. U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry traveled himself to Afghanistan in order to meet with the candidates and broker the deal, which called for a comprehensive vote audit and the formation of a national unity government. Without both camps signing the agreement, though, it is unclear just how binding its terms remain.
Mohaqeq said that both sides have agreed to the vote audit taking place in accordance with international standards, but have failed to commit together to separating clean votes from fraudulent ones. “We claim extensive fraud in the elections, and our claim must be addressed,” Mohaqeq said. “ here is a saying that goes 'don’t be a thief and not afraid of law enforcement' - don’t cheat and not be afraid of an audit.”
But Ashraf Ghani's campaign team has maintained that they remain committed to everything they agreed to, but declined to discuss the particulars of the agreement before the auditing process is completed. “We cannot give details in regard to the agreement until the audit process is over,” said Muhammad Tahir, a member of Ashraf Ghani camp.
After a couple weeks of seemingly improved relations between the candidates since the U.S. and UN brokered deal was made, recent discord surrounding the criteria to be used for invalidating votes and commitment to the agreement has reawakened anxieties about the election.
“We ask both candidates to stop making conflicting statements in regard to the agreement and give details of the agreement to the public,” said Muhammad Yusuf Rasheed, the Executive Director of the Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan (FEFA).