U.S. Ally Abdullah Leads as Runoff Looms in Afghanistan
By Eltaf Najafizada Apr 26, 2014 7:40 PM ET
Former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, a U.S. ally, finished first in preliminary results in Afghanistan’s presidential race while not getting enough votes to avoid a run-off election, the Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan said.
Abdullah won 45 percent of the vote in the eight-candidate contest earlier this month while former World Bank economist Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai tallied 31.5 percent, Ahmad Yusuf Nuristani, the IEC’s chairman, told reporters in Kabul yesterday. The results indicate “that elections would go into the second round” between the two top contenders, he said.
Outgoing Afghan President Hamid Karzai has delayed signing a pact needed to keep U.S. troops in the war-torn country beyond this year and secure billions of dollars in pledged aid funds. Both Abdullah, an opponent of Karzai for a decade, and Ghani vowed to sign the agreement immediately after taking office, calling it crucial for Afghanistan’s stability.
The election was hailed as a success by Afghan officials and foreign allies after Taliban guerrillas failed to disrupt it. About 7 million Afghans – 65 percent male and 35 percent female, Nuristani said -- defied Taliban threats of violence to cast ballots, double the turnout of the previous election in 2009. About 12 million Afghans were eligible to vote.
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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-04-26/u-s-ally-abdullah-leads-as-runoff-looms-in-afghanistan.html
