KABUL, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- Afghanistan's election commission on Tuesday evening finally declared the serving President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani as the elected president for the second term, nearly five months after the 2019 presidential polls.
"Mohammad Ashraf Ghani has secured 50.64 percent of the votes used in the presidential elections, therefore the Independent Election Commission announces him as the elected president of Afghanistan," head of the election commission Hawa Alam Nuristani said at a press conference.
"This is the victory of the people of Afghanistan and I as a servant of the people would have the honor to serve our people," Ghani said in his speech late night. "Today is the day of unity and let us join hands to build our country, to bring peace and alleviate poverty."
However, Ghani's rival in the presidential race, Abdullah Abdullah has disputed the election results as "bogus" and claimed his victory in the controversial polls.
"We are the winner of the presidential elections. The result announced by the election commission is unfair and bogus, so our team rejects it and forms its broad based government," Abdullah said in a sharp reaction among his supporters.
Afghanistan's controversial and possibly the longest presidential election in the world was held on Sept. 28, 2019. The preliminary result was supposed to come out on Oct. 19, but without a outcome, Ghani was announced in lead followed by Abdullah on Dec. 22.
The final result of the polls was announced on Tuesday, almost five months after holding the elections.
Abdullah lost to Ghani in the previous presidential elections in 2014, but rejected the result, bringing the country at the verge of collapse. To make a patch up, the former U.S. Secretary of State John Carry mediated and formed the National Unity Government in which Abdullah was made the chief executive, a post equal to the prime minister.
Afghanistan's fourth presidential election since the collapse of Taliban regime in late 2001 was held amid tight security in 2019 among over a dozen contesters, including the serving president Ghani and Abdullah.
Fazal Ahmad Manawi who is a close aide to Abdullah has described the election result as "electoral coup" and "illegitimate."
More than 1.9 million out of 9.4 million eligible voters casted their votes in Sept. 28 presidential elections, of these Ghani secured 50.64 percent, Abdullah 39.52 percent and remaining of the votes garnered by the remaining 12 candidates.
"The militancy-plagued Afghanistan seems like a broken ship that can hurt all Afghans if drowned," political expert Sediqullah Tawhidi observed, calling upon the politicians to be careful in this critical stage and tackle the issues cautiously.
