President Ashraf Ghani addressed his campaign team at a gathering at the Presidential Palace where he thanked the Independent Election Commission for holding the presidential polls but said his team has some complaints that they will lodge with the Independent Electoral Complaints Commission (IECC).

The IECC has said that assessing the electoral complaints will take up to 39 working days.

Ghani earned 923,868 votes--50.64% of the total votes--and was the top scorer of the preliminary round of the 2019 presidential election. The results were announced by the Independent Election Commission on Sunday morning.

Ghani’s rival, Abdullah Abdullah, got 720,990 votes and 39.52% of the total vote, according to the IEC.

“Some wanted an interim government. We are simple people--look at our clothes, at our words. We want a pure government, an Islamic republic government, and today a republic was ensured,” Ghani said.

He reiterated that a “republic” will continue.

“The republic is firm in its place. The republic (government) will continue and citizens will be its center. Today is the citizens’ celebration. The people of Afghanistan made this success happen,” Ghani said.

In reacting to his political rival Abdullah Abdullah’s team, which called the results fraudulent, Ghani said the presidential candidates should accept “the principles of the game.”

“A game has principles. Principles determine laws -- the Constitution of Afghanistan, the election law… Now is the time that everyone should accept the principles of the game,” Ghani said. “In the coming days, the Electoral Complaints Commission will make its decision. Our team will once again act based on the law and others should also act based on the law.”

Ghani said no one should think of reaching power through military force.

“The thought that someone will rule Afghanistan by the gun is a bad thought,” he said.

Ghani commended the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces for ensuring the safety of the election and said their utmost efforts have made other parts of the world safe.

“Our National Defense and Security Forces are the only power which has the authority of using legitimate power and any type of misuse of power will be prevented. However, use of force by State Builder has always been within the law,” he said.

Members of other presidential campaign teams have said they will not accept the results.

“Now, “fake fraud” was also seen in this announcement, but we will continue the process. We hope that the (Independent) Electoral Complaints Commission takes action in excluding “fraud,” said Fazl Ahmad Manawi, a member of Abdullah Abdullah’s campaign team.

Another candidate, Rahmatullah Nabil, said the announcement of the results, which are the outcome of “fraud,” will lead the country to a crisis.

“We should not praise a “fraudulent” government, a “fraudulent” and “fake face.” The leadership of the people of Afghanistan should be from within the people,” Nabil said.

“The crisis will increase if this government continues. It will not decrease,” presidential candidate Ahmad Wali Massoud said.