KABUL (PAN): As was widely anticipated, President Hamid Karzai and his principal political rival Dr. Abdullah Abdullah are said to have finally sealed a power-sharing deal on forming a coalition government -- a move that negates pre- and post-election postures of the two leaders.

A member of the Karzai-led cabinet, familiar with the complex and tense negotiations, confided to Pajhwok Afghan News on Tuesday the agreement was reached at a meeting convened to end an election gridlock that has fuelled worries about the country's political future.

At the fragile talks, attended by Wolesi Jirga members, jihadi leaders, cabinet ministers and Karzai's campaign managers, the president reportedly stuck to his guns and vowed to resist -- tooth and nail -- what he called foreign pressures over the formation of a government of national unity.

But the minister, requesting not to be named, revealed the jihadi leaders eventually prevailed upon the president to enter a coalition agreement with his erstwhile foreign minister and accept the UN-backed electoral watchdog's decisions that were formally unveiled yesterday.

"Now that an accord has been reached in principle, the polls won't go to the second round and Dr. Abdullah will accept Karzai as president," the source divulged, claiming the runner-up had indicated his willingness to respect the decision of the meeting that came hard on the heels of a new round of talks between Karzai and an influential US lawmaker.

Chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee John Kerry held talks with the president and Dr. Abdullah this morning. A US Embassy official, confirming the meeting, said the two sides discussed a power-sharing arrangement to avert a looming crisis. He refused to into the details of the so-called arrangement.

On Monday, Karzai's camp slammed the UN-backed panel's decisions on alleged vote fraud as 'complex,' rejecting the findings as illegal. But former foreign minister Dr. Abdullah hailed the inquiry outcome as a positive move.

Waheed Omar, spokesman for the Karzai campaign, said the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) should have communicated the outcome of its investigations to the Independent Election Commission (IEC).

Before being unveiled, Omar argued, the ECC decisions should have gone to the IEC for certification and adjustment of candidates' vote tallies. The findings should have been released after being implemented, he believed.

In response to a query, the official claimed the ECC had come under pressure in announcing its findings in a secret and ambiguous manner. "The report is ambivalent. And we think it has been issued under duress."

Over the last fortnight, he pointed out Karzai had been under mounting pressure from different quarters to cut a deal with Dr. Abdullah. The pressures led to converting the election results into a tradeoff, he alleged. "How can a candidate negotiate government formation with other contenders before he is formally declared an outright winner?" Omar asked.  

On the other hand, the Dr. Abdullah camp welcomed the report and said it was aware of the conclusion two days before its release. "While appreciating the ECC decisions, we expect President Karzai to respect them," observed a spokesman for Abdullah.

Syed Hussein Aqa Faazal Sancharaki, insisting the election had gone into the runoff stage, revealed that Karzai's vote share had come down to 48 percent from 54.6 percent, as announced initially announced by the IEC.

After an agonosingly long wait of nearly two months, the ECC finalised on Monday its decisions with respect to polling and counting for the presidential elections. It officially communicated the outcome of its investigations to the Independent Election Commission (IEC), which will adjust candidates vote totals in accordance with the findings before it unveils the final results.

The panel said it issued three separate decisions with respect to certification of the presidential election results. One, the ECC has ordered the IEC to invalidate 210 polling stations around the country where it found clear and convincing evidence of fraud.

Two, As a result of the audit and recount process, the ECC has directed the IEC to invalidate a certain percentage of each candidate's votes in six separate categories. Each category corresponds to criteria set forth in the ECC order of September 8, 2009, which required an investigation of polling stations that were highly suspicious of fraud.

Three, the ECC decided that 18 polling stations quarantined by the IEC might be included in the results because it found no clear evidence of fraud. The ECC agreed that the other polling stations quarantined by the IEC were properly excluded from the election results.

Kabul-based diplomats say international powers including the US, France, Britain and the United Nations had been pressing the key candidates over the last few days to work out an arrangement so as to obviate the need for a second round of elections.

In the midst of reviewing its new strategy for Afghanistan, the Obama administration is yet to take a decision on surging US troop levels in the war-hit country due to the prevailing uncertainty.

The White House chief of staff stressed on Sunday the poll outcome must be legitimate to produce a credible government. "There are basically two roads there, or two basic processes. One is a runoff election between the two top candidates, or negotiations between those candidates. But the end result must be a legitimate and credible government to the Afghan people."

John Emanuel told the CNN in an interview: "That's what is important. It's the Afghans making a decision about what type of government they are going to have and what road they're going to take to that point."

Translated & edited by S. Mudassir Ali Shah