Presidential Candidates Warn of Crisis in Upcoming Elections

The council of presidential candidates warns that if President Ashraf Ghani refuses to leave the office before holding the elections, the war-torn country will witness a huge crisis.

Members of the council claim that President Ghani is using all government resources to engineer the election in his own favor.

“13 presidential candidates have decided to stand against the illegal continuation of Ghani’s tenure. If he continues to keep power in hand illegally, the future election will create a huge crisis in the country and the challenges will be doubled,” said Shahab Hakimi, a presidential candidate.

“Mr. Ghani is trying to manage the election in his own favor; therefore, he is not listening to the people,” said Enayatullah Hafiz another presidential candidate.

Expressing concerns regarding the ongoing situation, electoral observers emphasize that political trust to the election process is a must.

“President Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah must be very careful on their practices in order to give more trust to the election process and it will help everyone accept the final result of the election,” said Yousuf Rasheed, the CEO of Free and Fair Election Forum of Afghanistan (FEFA).

According to the Constitution, the legal service term of Ghani’s government ended on May 22.

However, the Supreme Court extended Ghani’s term until the re-election of a new president.

The move by the Supreme Court draw strong criticism of presidential candidates and politicians, demanding Ghani to step down or refrain from his candidacy in the upcoming presidential election.