New Afghan Government Sworn In
September 30, 2014
Ashraf Ghani was sworn in yesterday as president of Afghanistan after months of political tensions. He will lead a coalition government that marks the beginning of a power-sharing pact between Ghani and his chief rival, Abdullah Abdullah. Keeping to the pact, Ghani swore in Abdullah as his chief executive. “I am your leader, but I am not better than you,” Ghani stated before hundreds of dignitaries gathered to witness the inauguration. “If I make mistakes, hold me accountable.”
The inauguration offers some hope of quelling political turmoil in war-wracked Afghanistan. In a presidential election held on April 5, no candidate secured a majority of the vote. In June, the country held a runoff election between Ghani and Abdullah, the two leading candidates. But both claimed victory and accused the other of electoral fraud. The dispute threatened to split Afghanistan’s ethnic groups and trigger violence. United Nations observers were sent to the country to oversee an audit of the ballots from the June vote.
On September 21, Ghani and Abdullah agreed to a power-sharing compromise, brokered by western representatives, including United States Secretary of State John Kerry. The pact gave the losing candidate substantial influence in the next government. The next day, Afghan election officials declared Ghani the winner. However, under pressure from western diplomats, the officials did not release the final vote totals. Abdullah, the second-place candidate, had insisted that releasing the final vote tally would legitimize an election result that he charged was inherently invalid because of widespread ballot-box stuffing.
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