Statement by the Press Secretary/Director-General for Press and Public Relations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on the Presidential Election in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan

October 21, 2009

With regard to the presidential election held on August 20 in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, the Government of Japan welcomes the progress of the process with the finalization of the result by the Independent Election Commission (IEC) on October 20th and acceptance of the result by the both candidates H.E. Hamid Karzai and H.E. Dr. Abdullah Abdullah.
Japan expects that all parties concerned will conduct themselves in accordance with the law in the runoff process and that the runoff will take place in a fair and transparent manner.
Japan also expects that such relevant authorities as the IEC, the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) and the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) will cooperate with each other and play positive roles.

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