Afghanistan: Incumbent President, Chief Executive in Presidential race

KABUL: Incumbent President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah formally entered the Presidential race for the July 20 elections here on Sunday.

On the one hand, Ghani`s running mates are Afghanistan`s intelligence agency`s ex-chief Amarullah Saleh and the incumbent Vice President (VP) Mohammad Sarwar Danish.

On the other, Abdullah`s running mate as the first VP is Enayatullah Babur Farahmand and former MP Asadullah Saadati as the second VP, according to TOLOnews.

"We will work for peace on behalf of a dignified and a painful nation, but we will not beg for peace from anyone. Governance is a responsibility rather than a prize. Wealth is not something brought by the wind to distribute it among the specific people," Ghani said after filing his nomination papers here.

This is the second time that Ghani and Abdullah will be facing off each other at the polls, with the 2014 elections being the last time they were seen contending for the post of President.

Until now, the Presidential race in Afghanistan consists of Abdul Latif Pedram, Hakim Torsan, Sayed Noorullah Jalili, Enayatullah Hafiz, Zalmai Rassoul, Noorul Haq Ulumi, Faramarz Tamanna, Mohammad Haneef Atmar, Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and Wali Massoud.