IEC declares Ghani winner of preliminary results, Abdullah defies it

The Independent Election Commission (IEC) today, Sunday, December 22, announced the preliminary results of the 2019 presidential election. Speaking at press conference here in Kabul, Hawa Alam Nuristani, the chairwoman of the IEC, declared Mohammad Ashraf Ghani as winner of the 2019 presidential election. According to preliminary results, Mr. Ghani has won 923,868 votes, 50.62 percent of the total votes.

The 2019 Afghan presidential election was held on 28 September 2019. An estimated two million Afghans turned out in major Afghan cities to cast vote despite security threats posed by the Taliban insurgents.