Dr Abdullah Abdullah is the frontrunner in the historial elections
Kabul:
The second round of counting in the Afghanistan presidential polls has given frontrunner Dr Abdullah Abdullah an increase in his lead with 44.47 per cent of the 7 million votes cast.
Ahmad Yousuf Nooristani, head of the Independent Election Commission (IEC), announced the results of the 49.67 per cent of the estimated 7 million votes cast in 34 provinces.
Results of the first round of counting, announced a week ago, revealed that Dr Abdullah was the frontrunner with 41.9 per cent of the votes.
Ashraf Ghani came a close second with 37.6 per cent of the votes and Zalmai Rassoul lagged behind at the third slot with 9.8 per cent votes.
Dr Abdullah, a former foreign minister in the cabinet of outgoing President Hamid Karzai, may have increased his lead. But unless he gets more than 50 per cent of the votes, he will go into a run-off with Dr Ghani, a former World Bank technocrat and a former finance minister.
Dr Abdullah welcomed the preliminary results and congratulated his supporters, saying, "After 50 per cent of the votes have been counted, we are on top".
Before Sunday's announcement, Dr Ghani's team had said, "The mandate of the people should decide the next President. We want transparency rather than back-door dealings".
Reacting to charges of horse-trading, Mr Nooristani said, "I am concerned about horse-trading by candidates and I have the legal authority to stop it".
This will be the first peaceful and democratic transfer of power in Afghanistan's history.
President Hamid Karzai is barred by the country's constitution from contesting for a third term. There are five other candidates in the presidential race but all of them are way behind the three front-runners.
The IEC head told a press conference in Kabul, "This announcement is not final", adding that votes of 1,086 centres have been sent for audit and votes at 1,488 centres are being checked for fraud.
Over a million votes were annulled in the 2009 presidential elections.
Meanwhile, the Afghanistan unit of the Taliban issued a statement ahead of the IEC announcement, saying, "Even if these recent elections are analysed in the light of the expressions of observers and the reports of some free media outlets, one can easily deduce that they have completely failed".
But an estimated 7 million voters have defied the Taliban's threats and voted in the presidential elections.
Ahmad Yousuf Nooristani, head of the Independent Election Commission (IEC), announced the results of the 49.67 per cent of the estimated 7 million votes cast in 34 provinces.
Results of the first round of counting, announced a week ago, revealed that Dr Abdullah was the frontrunner with 41.9 per cent of the votes.
Ashraf Ghani came a close second with 37.6 per cent of the votes and Zalmai Rassoul lagged behind at the third slot with 9.8 per cent votes.
Dr Abdullah, a former foreign minister in the cabinet of outgoing President Hamid Karzai, may have increased his lead. But unless he gets more than 50 per cent of the votes, he will go into a run-off with Dr Ghani, a former World Bank technocrat and a former finance minister.
Dr Abdullah welcomed the preliminary results and congratulated his supporters, saying, "After 50 per cent of the votes have been counted, we are on top".
Before Sunday's announcement, Dr Ghani's team had said, "The mandate of the people should decide the next President. We want transparency rather than back-door dealings".
Reacting to charges of horse-trading, Mr Nooristani said, "I am concerned about horse-trading by candidates and I have the legal authority to stop it".
This will be the first peaceful and democratic transfer of power in Afghanistan's history.
President Hamid Karzai is barred by the country's constitution from contesting for a third term. There are five other candidates in the presidential race but all of them are way behind the three front-runners.
The IEC head told a press conference in Kabul, "This announcement is not final", adding that votes of 1,086 centres have been sent for audit and votes at 1,488 centres are being checked for fraud.
Over a million votes were annulled in the 2009 presidential elections.
Meanwhile, the Afghanistan unit of the Taliban issued a statement ahead of the IEC announcement, saying, "Even if these recent elections are analysed in the light of the expressions of observers and the reports of some free media outlets, one can easily deduce that they have completely failed".
But an estimated 7 million voters have defied the Taliban's threats and voted in the presidential elections.
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