Afghanistan's Ghani Wins Second Term as President

Hava Alam Nuristani, the chief election commissioner, said Ghani secured 50.64% of votes fulfilling the minimum requirement, according to Anadolu News Agency.

“I hereby declare Mohammad Ashraf Ghani as the elected president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan for the next five years,” she said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Sediq Sediqqi, spokesman for the president, told a news conference the next move for the government is to form an inclusive team for talks with the Taliban after an expected deal between the insurgents and the US later this month.

“About the details of the reduction in violence, on how to implement it, the Afghan security forces are working in close collaboration with the US partners,” he said.

According to initial results announced in December, Ghani secured the minimum 50%-plus-one-vote in the first round, leaving no room for a rerun.

His main rival, Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah came second with 39.5% of votes and veteran Mujahideen leader Gulbuddin Hekmatyar gained 3.8% of the total vote cast. Both rejected the initial results.

Fazel Ahmad Manawi, a senior member of Mr. Abdullah’s team, had said hours before the announcement that “neither the institution called independent election commission has legitimacy in our eyes, nor the result they might announce.”

Supporters of Mr. Ghani’s leading challenger, Abdullah Abdullah accuse Afghanistan’s election commission of favoring Mr. Ghani and have threatened to form a parallel government if the commission announced results that did not satisfy their grievances.