Kabul, Sep 9 (IANS): Outgoing Afghan President Hamid Karzai Tuesday urged both the presidential candidates, Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, to reach an agreement on the formation of a national unity government and take the country out of the impasse.

"I am calling upon both the presidential candidates to reach an agreement sooner than later and form the new government," Karzai said at a ceremony to mark Haftai Shahid or Martyrs Week in Kabul.

"The tenure of my government is over and I want to hand over the power to my successor and administer the presidential inauguration in its earliest and want to have it within one week," Xinhua quoted Karzai as saying.

The Afghan presidential election was held April 5 and since none of the eight contenders succeeded in securing more than 50 percent of the votes, the two front-runners Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai went for a runoff June 14.

Abdullah who bagged the majority of the votes in the first round of the elections and stood second in the runoff had accused the election commission of committing fraud in favour of Ghani Ahmadzai and demanded a votes audit.

The votes recounting and auditing process was over last Thursday.

However, Abdullah Monday claimed victory in the presidential election.

"Based on the genuine votes cast in the election process, I am the winner," Abdullah said, adding that a transparent and fair election is the foundation for durable peace and stability in Afghanistan.