Presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah declared victory in Afghanistan’s 2019 presidential elections, saying his campaign has received the highest votes.

Speaking at a televised press conference on Monday, Abdullah said that the electoral commissions will announce the results but his electoral ticket has won the highest vote.

He added that he has assessed the results during the last two days and there will be no need for a runoff.

Abdullah further claimed that he will form the next government.

In addition, he called on electoral commissions to invalidate votes not registered on biometric devices.

The leader of “Stability and Partnership” electoral ticket urged electoral commissions to be cautious about entering of fake result sheets into the system.

Despite of shortcomings, the presidential election was a great step toward democracy.

Abdullah said thousands of people showed up at polling centers on Election Day but they could not find their names on the voters list.

On people participation, he said the voter’s turnout was not at the level expected but compared to the high level of security threats it was still considerable.

“Unfortunately, a number of government officials have directly interfered in election affairs. They will be treated legally,” he said.

Abdullah also thanked Afghan security forces, the international community, the Resolute Support mission, and the people of Afghanistan for their role in elections.

He concluded that the electoral complaints commission has a crucial task afterwards to investigate the complaints.

Meanwhile, senior officials from electoral commissions appeared in press conferences and said that candidates have no right to announce their victory before the announcement of the official results.

According to the IEC, the preliminary result of Afghanistan’s presidential elections will be declared on October 19 and the final result on November 7.

By Hesamuddin Hesam