KABUL (PAN): Afghanistan ulema (religious scholars) council said Tuesday if one of the two presidential candidates quits the race in the second round of polls set for November 7, another should be declared the winner.
The Afghan Independent Election Commission (IEC) ordered a run-off for the disputed presidential election after a fraud investigation decreased incumbent Hamid Karzai's votes below 50 percent of the total.
Kariza agreed to hold a run-off election with Dr Abdullah in the face of intense international pressure.
But Abdullah now says he will pull out of the 7 November vote unless poll officials are dismissed.
At a gathering of the council members here, the participants called for convening the Loya Jirga (Grand Assembly of Elders) after completion of the election process.
They said the disgruntled elements should also be invited to the session in order to pave way for reconciliation for bringing to an end the ongoing conflict.
The scholars' council through a resolution asked both the candidates to participate in the runoff elections
Mualavi Qeyamudin Kashaf, a member of the council said: "Hamid Karzai and Dr. Abdullah are representatives of the Afghan people and the nation respects them."
"We believe they (Karzai and Abdullah) will not violate the law and will participate in the elections," he hoped.
Kashaf was speaking at a press conference along with some other members of the council after their meeting. He said if any of the two did not participate in the elections, the other should be declared the winner.
He added: "We will tell Dr. Abdullah that if he accepts the constitution and the electoral law then there is no problem," he said.
The council considered formation of a coalition government an insult to the vote of Afghan nation and strongly rejected such ideas.
The resolution of the council asked Afghan people to use their right to vote in the runoff elections.
It also asked the international community to stop interfering into in the election process.
The resolution also called for summoning a session of the Loya Jirg to prevent the war after a new president takes over the job.
The scholars asked the UN Security Council to remove the opposition forces from the black list and Afghan government and the UN should guarantee their safety during their participation in the jirga.
Taliban supreme leader Mullah Mohammad Omar and Hezb-i-Islami
The scholars' council also condemned the incident of burning a copy of the Holy Quran in central Maidan Wardak province in the past week and urged the government to investigate into the incident and award punishment to the doers.
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