Iran Invites Afghans to Self-Restraint

(FNA)- The Iranian foreign ministry asked Afghan groups and streams to practice self-restraint and use all legal solutions and instruments to settle their disputes on the results of the presidential election.

"We invite all sides in Afghanistan to self-restraint. Afghanistan needs peace and stability and all legal solutions and tools should be used to reach a settlement and therefore the two sides' self-restraint is necessary," Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham said in her weekly press conference in Tehran on Wednesday.

Stressing that protecting Afghanistan's security, stability and national unity is a vitality, she said Afghan authorities should carefully study the claims of election fraud and respect people's votes.

Also in a separate statement today, the Iranian foreign ministry underlined the necessity for the settlement of problems in Afghanistan by the country's people, and said, "Foreign interference won't be helpful and will only further complicate the situation in the country."

^{_{Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Marziyeh Afkham}}

Preliminary election results announced by the commission on Monday afternoon showed that Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai has won over 56% and his rival Abdullah Abdullah has gathered over 43% of the votes cast in Afghanistan's presidential election.

Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission announced on Monday afternoon that initial results show Ashraf ghani Ahmadzai has won 4,485,000 (56.44%) and Abdullah Abdullah has collected 3,461,000 (43.56%) of the votes.

Yet, the commission cautioned that final results may change after all complaints are dealt with, adding that "we do not deny fraud in the election."

The Afghanistan election headed for a second round run-off between former opposition leader Abdullah Abdullah and ex-World Bank economist Ashraf Ghani after final results showed no candidate had won an absolute majority. Abdullah took the lead with 45 percent of votes, followed by Ghani with 31.6 percent in the first round.

Final results will be announced on July 22, the commission chief said.

The Afghanistan election commission figures showed over 8 million voters, but Abdullah Abdullah has stressed that less than 5 to maximum 6 million people have taken part in the elections.

Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai has vowed to step down at the end of his term, stressing that he would not remain in office even for one more day after his term ends. The new president will be sworn in in August.