Ghani leads in Afghan count
July 7, 2014
On Monday, Afghanistan's Independent Election Commmission announced that former World Bank economist Ashraf Ghani appeared to have won the second round of a presidential election, securing 56.44 percent of the vote in preliminary results.
His rival, Abdullah Abdullah, was said to have garnered 43.56 percent of the vote.
The release of the of the results was delayed as the two political camps sought to resolve accusations of voting fraud. Abdullah Abdullah has said he will reject the preliminary result, claiming that he was the victim of "industrial scale" vote-rigging.
Some votes for both sides may still be discounted if there is proof of fraud, with an investigation set to take place before definitive figures are given.
"It is not a final result. We request both candidates and their supporters to wait for the final results ... which will be declared later," commission head Ahmad Yousuf Nouristani said.
"I would like to invite both candidates, if they have any complaints or observations regarding this election, to share them with the Independent Electoral Complaints Commission."
Election officials said the turnout for the June 14 vote was over 8 million, far higher than expected.
rc/mkg (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)