President Hamid Karzai’s First Vice President, Mohammad Younas Qanoni, is said to try and pave the way for negotiations between the two presidential candidates, according to Ashraf Ghani-Ahmadzai's campaign team.
Ghani's campaign team stressed that the talks will be held to settle the electoral deadlock and not to form a coalition government.
Presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah's campaign team has announced that the talks will be conducted only to formulate a mechanism to separate rigged votes from the genuine votes.
Qanoni met with the candidates after the election commission demanded that President Karzai and his vice presidents settle down the electoral issues and convince Abdullah to rejoin the process.
“Negotiations between Ashraf Ghani-Ahmadzai and Qanoni resulted in the decision that the two candidates negotiate and talk about the recent issues," Ghani's Spokesman Abbas Noyan said. "The meeting will also be attended by Ahmad Zia Massoud. There will not be any discussion on formation of a coalition or a corporation type government at any cost."
Abdullah's team has not yet commented on meeting with Ghani, but emphasized that they will maintain their commitments.
“The main objectives of these meetings and negotiations are to undertake a mechanism to separate fake and genuine votes," Abdullah's Spokesman Syed Fazel Sancharaki said. "We will not endorse any results announced tomorrow, even if it is in our favor."
A delegation has been formed from both teams to finalize the venue and timing of negotiations between the two candidates.
Despite these brawls, the government is working hard to undertake preparations for the inauguration ceremony of the new president on the fifth day of Eid-ul-Fitr.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) has already dispatched invitation letters to world leaders to participate in the ceremony. MoFA Spokesman, Ahmad Shekib Mustaghna, said that invitation letters have been sent to at least 40 heads of states.
Extended controversies over the cases of frauds and riggings have pushed the election process to many challenges. Massive efforts are underway to seek settlement to the electoral tensions; but time will tell when the electoral deadlock comes to an end.