Abdullah Abdullah has become the frontrunner in the Afghanistan presidential polls
Kabul:
Dr Abdullah Abdullah is leading the Afghanistan presidential polls by a margin of just over 4 per cent than his nearest rival Dr Ashraf Ghani Ahmedzai, the country's Independent Election Commission (IEC) said on Sunday. (Afghanistan election scores 58 per cent turnout: commission chief)
The counting of only 10 per cent of the votes cast in 26 of the 34 provinces (the IEC says 506,843 votes of the initially announced 7 million votes have been counted so far) put Dr Abdullah in the top spot with 41.9 per cent votes (212,312).
Ashraf Ghani came a close second with 37.6 per cent of the votes (190,561) and Zalmai Rassoul was at the third slot in the presidential race with 9.8 per cent of the votes (49,821).
If no candidate manages to get 50 per cent of the votes in the first count, a run-off between the top two candidates will be held on May 28.
Ahmed Yousuf Nuristani, chief of the IEC, told a press conference in Kabul on Sunday that these were very preliminary results and it was too early to predict the outcome on such a small sample.
But, he added, the IEC was prepared to hold a run-off if needed.
The Afghanistan election process has been a long drawn-out one and the winner may be declared as late as July.
After the election was held on April 5, the initial official count was announced on Sunday.
Final results are not due till May 14.
In case a run-off is held, the process will continue till June and July.
None of the votes polled so far have been annulled yet.
On the same day, the Independent Election Complaints Commission (IECC) said there had been more incidents of serious fraud reported in this year's election than in the 2009 presidential poll.
There have been 870 incidents of 'Priority A' complaints -- which are serious enough to impact the outcome of the election -- this year. (Afghanistan presidential election provokes more than 3,000 complaints)
In 2009, 815 'Priority A' complaints were filed and over a million votes were annulled in the presidential election.
But there is a sense of optimism across Afghanistan as this is the first time presidential powers are being transferred peacefully and democratically in the country.
President Hamid Karzai is barred from contesting these elections as he has already completed two terms in office. (Hamid Karzai votes in Afghan polls to choose his successor)
Hours before the IEC's press conference, the Afghan Taliban issued a statement reiterating that the outfit 'Doesn't recognise any president or government as legitimate and will continue the struggle and resistance.'
The counting of only 10 per cent of the votes cast in 26 of the 34 provinces (the IEC says 506,843 votes of the initially announced 7 million votes have been counted so far) put Dr Abdullah in the top spot with 41.9 per cent votes (212,312).
Ashraf Ghani came a close second with 37.6 per cent of the votes (190,561) and Zalmai Rassoul was at the third slot in the presidential race with 9.8 per cent of the votes (49,821).
If no candidate manages to get 50 per cent of the votes in the first count, a run-off between the top two candidates will be held on May 28.
Ahmed Yousuf Nuristani, chief of the IEC, told a press conference in Kabul on Sunday that these were very preliminary results and it was too early to predict the outcome on such a small sample.
But, he added, the IEC was prepared to hold a run-off if needed.
The Afghanistan election process has been a long drawn-out one and the winner may be declared as late as July.
After the election was held on April 5, the initial official count was announced on Sunday.
Final results are not due till May 14.
In case a run-off is held, the process will continue till June and July.
None of the votes polled so far have been annulled yet.
On the same day, the Independent Election Complaints Commission (IECC) said there had been more incidents of serious fraud reported in this year's election than in the 2009 presidential poll.
There have been 870 incidents of 'Priority A' complaints -- which are serious enough to impact the outcome of the election -- this year. (Afghanistan presidential election provokes more than 3,000 complaints)
In 2009, 815 'Priority A' complaints were filed and over a million votes were annulled in the presidential election.
But there is a sense of optimism across Afghanistan as this is the first time presidential powers are being transferred peacefully and democratically in the country.
President Hamid Karzai is barred from contesting these elections as he has already completed two terms in office. (Hamid Karzai votes in Afghan polls to choose his successor)
Hours before the IEC's press conference, the Afghan Taliban issued a statement reiterating that the outfit 'Doesn't recognise any president or government as legitimate and will continue the struggle and resistance.'
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