Grand alliance to field joint presidential runner

KABUL): A major coalition of political parties to be formed in the next few days would introduce a consensus nominee for the presidential election, a politician said on Wednesday.

A number of parties, including Jamiat-i-Islami, National United Front and Rawand-i-Sabz, are set to join the alliance.

National United Front leader Ahmad Zia Massoud said they were in talks with Right and Justice and Afghan Millat parties on cobbling together a coalition. The grouping might be formed within a week, he indicated.

Also a former vice-president, Massoud told a news conference in Kabul the proposed coalition would introduce a consensus runner for the presidency.

They would also hold meetings with influential political figures and prominent personalities on the establishment of the coalition, he said.

Nominations for the 2014 presidential election is to begin in less than a month, but Abdul Rab Rassoul Sayyaf, Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, Hanif Atmar, Anwar-ul-Haq Ahadi and some others are seen as key wannabes.

Massoud stressed the introduction a parliamentary system, saying Afghan politicians had agreed at their meeting in Munich two days back that a decentralised government was the only viable solution to the current crisis in the country.

Peace would continue to elude the country in the foreseeable future, he believed, asking the government and the international community to be prepared for a long war.

myn/mud

Visits: 2