Karzai ... ready for a busy retirement.
Afghanistan’s UN representative told President Hamid Karzai yesterday that the audit of a disputed election would not be finished by September 2, when Karzai had hoped to see a new leader inaugurated.
The UN is supervising the audit of votes from a run-off ballot between the two candidates, Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani. Both men have claimed victory in an election meant to mark the country’s first democratic transfer of power.
In a meeting with Karzai, UN envoy Ján Kubi told the outgoing president a “rigorous and credible audit required time, but could be completed around 10 September,” said a UN statement.
In a previous statement, Karzai had said the inauguration of Afghanistan’s new president must take place a month after the original inauguration date of August 2.
“President Karzai is truly in a hurry for a quick conclusion of the election process,” Karzai spokesman Aimal Faizi told Reuters. “He has already done his packing. He is exhausted, like many other Afghans.”
The audit of votes hit a snag on Wednesday when Abdullah’s team pulled its observers from the process, citing dissatisfaction with the way that allegedly fraudulent votes were being handled.
Ghani’s team subsequently also withdrew its observers at the UN’s request.
“The audit must not only have integrity, it must be seen to be even-handed by all Afghans,” UN deputy chief Nicholas Haysom told reporters on Wednesday.
The audit has continued under UN supervision, but the hiccup has sparked widespread concerns that a US-brokered deal between the two candidates may be in jeopardy.
Both teams said yesterday that talks on forming a national unity government had not stopped.
“We are still discussing the unity government,” Mahmoud Saiqal, a top aide to Abdullah told Reuters.
Determining how exactly that government will look may prove tricky, however, particularly when it comes to defining the role the election runner-up will play.
A deal brokered by US Secretary of State John Kerry calls for the runner-up to nominate someone to a new, specially created post called “chief executive.” That position would share control with the president over some key decisions, such as nominating the heads of the Afghan security forces.
“Our understanding of a ‘unity government’ is a national partnership, where political figures from both sides are represented,” said Saiqal.
But Ghani’s team said it was too soon to start determining what responsibilities and powers a chief executive would have.
“The role is impossible to define at the moment,” said Daoud Sultanzoy, a senior member of Ghani’s team.
“There’s no president [in office] to define it. Once the winner is announced, then it will be up to the winner.”
Karzai prepares to leave presidential palace
Outgoing Afghan President Hamid Karzai has packed up all his personal possessions and is ready to leave the palace, his spokesman said yesterday, even though the disputed election has failed to find his successor.
Karzai, who has lived in the former royal palace in central Kabul since 2002, has supervised the removal of his precious library of books from shelves inside his heavily-fortified residence. He is due to move into another house in the city, though it is unclear how active he will be in politics after ruling Afghanistan for 13 turbulent years since the fall of the Taliban regime.
“The president has packed up already, days ago,” Karzai’s spokesman Aimal Faizi told AFP. “A lot of the furniture is staying as it belongs to the palace, but his personal belongings, everything and especially his books, which are very dear to him, are packed.
“He has a good collection of books, all kind of new and very old historic books - that is already put in cartons and they are all ready to leave the palace, but they haven’t gone to the next place yet.”
Karzai has lived in the vast palace complex behind multiple layers of rigorous security with his wife Zinat and their three children, the youngest of whom was born earlier this year.
Due to the threat of assassination, he has been unable to travel freely around the country and has instead hosted an almost constant series of meetings with Afghans ranging from feared warlords to ordinary villagers.
Under the constitution, he is banned from standing for a third term in office and he often said that he is looking forward to retirement and to becoming a “citizen of Afghanistan” who is ready to help his successor if asked.
Karzai, who has publicly stayed neutral during the election, has pushed for the inauguration to be held next Tuesday - even though Ghani and Abdullah both still claim to have won.
Faizi said the inauguration would be a “domestic” event without foreign dignitaries due to uncertainty over the schedule.
“The preparations are underway and the list of invitees is already prepared and we have shared the list with the two candidates... if they want to add names,” he said. “The president is doing his best to have a responsible conclusion of the election process before the end of this month, so we can have an inauguration right after the president-elect is declared.”
