2014 Afghan presidential election

2014 Afghan presidential election

← 2009 5 April 2014 (first round)
14 June 2014 (second round)
2019 →
 
Nominee Ashraf Ghani Abdullah Abdullah
Party Independent National Coalition
Running mate Abdul Rashid Dostum
Sarwar Danish
Mohammad Khan
Mohammad Mohaqiq
Popular vote 3,935,567 3,185,018
Percentage 55.27% 44.73%

Results by province

President before election

Hamid Karzai
Independent

Elected President

Ashraf Ghani
Independent

Presidential elections were held in Afghanistan on 5 April 2014, with a second round held on 14 June. Incumbent President Hamid Karzai was not eligible to run due to term limits. The registration period for presidential nominations was open from 16 September 2013 until 6 October 2013.[1] A total of 27 candidates were confirmed to be running for office.[2] However, on 22 October Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission disqualified 16 of the candidates, leaving only 11 in the race.[3] By April 2014 three candidates gave up the race and decided to support some of the eight remaining candidates. Opinion polls showed Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani as the front-runners[4] and indeed the results of the first round of the election had Abdullah in the lead and Ghani behind him. The second set of results came after the run-off on 14 June, two months after the first round. Preliminary results were expected on 2 July and the final result on 22 July. However, widespread accusations of fraud delayed these results.[5] As a result, John Kerry, then United States Secretary of State, mediated the negotiations between the two final candidates, Ghani and Abdullah.[6] After a series of negotiations and talks between Ghani, Abdullah and Kerry, the two candidates agreed to sign an Agreement to form a National Unity Government[7] based on 50–50 power sharing. As a result of that political agreement, a separate position was created for Abdullah as Chief Executive.[8] The National Unity Government's term ran out after the next Afghan presidential election was held in September 2019.[9]

The election was the first time (and, so far, the only time) in Afghanistan's history that power was democratically transferred.[10][11][12][13]

  1. ^ "Dr. Zalmai Rasoul nominated for 2014 presidential elections". 6 October 2013. Retrieved 2014-02-03.
  2. ^ Bailey Cahall (7 October 2013). "27 candidates enter race for Afghanistan's 2014 presidential election". Foreign Policy. Retrieved 2014-02-03.
  3. ^ Ali M Latifi (22 October 2013). "Sixteen Afghan election hopefuls disqualified". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 2014-02-03.
  4. ^ Rosenberg, Matthew (28 December 2013). "Polling Comes to Afghanistan, Suggesting Limit to Sway of President Karzai". The New York Times. Retrieved 2014-02-07.
  5. ^ ABC News. "International News - World News - ABC News". ABC News.
  6. ^ "John Kerry praises Abdullah and Ghani as Afghanistan's struggles continue". 27 September 2014.
  7. ^ "National unity deal for Afghan rivals".
  8. ^ "Afghanistan: The Future of the National Unity Government". 10 April 2017.
  9. ^ "Afghan presidential elections postponed until July 20: Official | Afghanistan News | al Jazeera".
  10. ^ "Huge security as Afghan presidential election looms". BBC. April 4, 2014.
  11. ^ "Afghanistan votes in historic presidential election". BBC. 5 April 2014.
  12. ^ Shalizi and Harooni, Hamid and Mirwais (April 4, 2014). "Landmark Afghanistan Presidential Election Held Under Shadow of Violence". Huffington Post.
  13. ^ "Afghanistan's Future: Who's Who in Pivotal Presidential Election". NBC News.