KABUL: Afghan President-elect Ashraf Ghani congratulated the country Monday on what he called its first democratic transfer of power, but the former rival with whom he signed a power-sharing deal was absent from the celebrations.

Ghani and Abdullah Abdullah struck an agreement Sunday to form a “unity government”, after months of disputes over who was the rightful winner of the fraud-tainted June 14 presidential election.

The bitter stand-off tipped Afghanistan into a political crisis, weakened the aid-dependent economy and emboldened Taliban insurgents who have launched several major offensives in recent months.

The two men must now govern Afghanistan as international funding declines and US-led combat troops pull out by the end of this year after fighting the Taliban since 2001.

“It is a big victory for the Afghan nation that for the first time in our bright history, power is transferred from one elected president to another president based on the people’s votes,” Ghani told cheering supporters in Kabul. In the “national unity government”, Ghani will become president and Abdullah will serve as chief executive — a new role similar to prime minister.

The chief executive could become the official prime minister in two years’ time — a major change to the strongly presidential style of government laid out in the constitution.

Coalition relations could prove tricky after the two campaigns traded allegations of ballot-box stuffing in the race to succeed President Hamid Karzai, who will hand over power at an inauguration ceremony next week.—AFP