Afghanistan’s presidential election will take place next year on April 20 with results due by June, the electoral authority in the conflict-ridden country announced. The 12-day registration of presidential hopefuls will start next week, Gulajan Abdulbadi Sayad, head of the Independent Election Commission, told a news conference in the capital Kabul on Monday. “All necessary preparations and an action plan are in place. Soon the recruitment of staff for the presidential polls will also begin,” he said. He pledged the results of the April 20 presidential polls would be out by June.
Afghanistan’s 2014 presidential election was marred by widespread claims of irregularities, which mounted until then-US Secretary of State John Kerry intervened and convinced the two main rivals – current President Ashraf Ghani and power-sharing Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah – to form a national unity government.
Ghani’s office says he will seek another term. Other announced hopefuls include Mohammad Haneef Atmar, a former long-standing national security adviser who parted ways with Ghani in August citing “serious differences”.
Full Article: Afghan election set for April 20 amid Taliban talks with US | News | Al Jazeera.
