Presidential elections were held in Afghanistan on 5 April 2014, with a second round held on 14 June. Incumbent PresidentHamid Karzai was not eligible to run due to term limits. The registration period for presidential nominations was open from 16 September 2013 until 6 October 2013.[1] A total of 27 candidates were confirmed to be running for office.[2] However, on 22 October Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission disqualified 16 of the candidates, leaving only 11 in the race.[3] By April 2014 three candidates gave up the race and decided to support some of the eight remaining candidates. Opinion polls showed Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani as the front-runners[4] and indeed the results of the first round of the election had Abdullah in the lead and Ghani behind him. The second set of results came after the run-off on 14 June, two months after the first round. Preliminary results were expected on 2 July and the final result on 22 July. However, widespread accusations of fraud delayed these results.[5] As a result, John Kerry, then United States Secretary of State, mediated the negotiations between the two final candidates, Ghani and Abdullah.[6] After a series of negotiations and talks between Ghani, Abdullah and Kerry, the two candidates agreed to sign an Agreement to form a National Unity Government[7] based on 50–50 power sharing. As a result of that political agreement, a separate position was created for Abdullah as Chief Executive.[8] The National Unity Government's term ran out after the next Afghan presidential election was held in September 2019.[9]
The election was the first time (and, so far, the only time) in Afghanistan's history that power was democratically transferred.[10][11][12][13]
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