Abdullah ahead in Afghan vote tally

New partial results in Afghanistan’s presidential election released yesterday show candidate Abdullah Abdullah is still the front- runner, though a runoff election looks likely.

The winner will replace Hamid Karzai, the only president the country has known since the 2001 US-led invasion ousted the Taliban, and will oversee a tumultuous period during which the US and Nato forces are expected to withdraw troops.

Abdullah and his closest competitor, Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, have promised a fresh start and have vowed to sign a security pact with the US that Karzai refused to sign.

Yesterday, the chairman of Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission, Ahmad Yousuf Nouristani, announced the results. They represent about half of the estimated 7m ballots cast in the April 5 poll.

Abdullah has 44% of the vote tallied. Ghani, a former finance minister and World Bank official, received 33.2% of the vote.

Abdullah, speaking to The Associated Press shortly after the results were announced, said he still thinks it’s possible for him to avoid a runoff altogether but said he was ready for a second round.

“For us, we will accept the outcome of a fair and transparent process.

“Anything short of that will be problematic,” he said.

Final results are due to be released on May 14.