United Nations: The UN chief and Security Council Friday praised the "courage" of Afghans who braved threats of violence to vote, following the publication of final results from the first-round presidential poll.
Afghans were voting to choose a successor to President Hamid Karzai, in what is to be Afghanistan's first democratic transfer of power and as the country enters a new era without NATO combat troops.
The two top candidates from the April 5 vote will face off in a second round scheduled for June 14.
The council members "encourage the Afghan people to continue to engage in the election process as it moves forward."
The remaining candidates are former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, who took the lead in the first round with 45 percent of the votes, and economist Ashraf Ghani, who was second with 31.6 percent, according to the final results, which came after weeks of deliberation over fraud allegations.
UN chief Ban Ki-moon also "sends his congratulations to the Afghan people for the courage and commitment they have shown to date in the election process," he said in a statement.
This presidential vote is considered a major test for the impoverished country -- still partly controlled by a resilient Taliban insurgency and which faces serious uncertainty as NATO withdraws at the end of the year.
Afghans were voting to choose a successor to President Hamid Karzai, in what is to be Afghanistan's first democratic transfer of power and as the country enters a new era without NATO combat troops.
The two top candidates from the April 5 vote will face off in a second round scheduled for June 14.
The council members "encourage the Afghan people to continue to engage in the election process as it moves forward."
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The remaining candidates are former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, who took the lead in the first round with 45 percent of the votes, and economist Ashraf Ghani, who was second with 31.6 percent, according to the final results, which came after weeks of deliberation over fraud allegations.
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UN chief Ban Ki-moon also "sends his congratulations to the Afghan people for the courage and commitment they have shown to date in the election process," he said in a statement.
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This presidential vote is considered a major test for the impoverished country -- still partly controlled by a resilient Taliban insurgency and which faces serious uncertainty as NATO withdraws at the end of the year.
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