Kabul: The Afghan presidential election is likely to go into a run-off as none of the hopefuls could obtain more than 50 percent of the votes, a media report said Saturday.
Abdullah Abdullah is leading the other candidates as 82.5 percent of votes have been counted, Chairman of the Independent Election Commission (IEC) Mohammad Yusuf Nuristani told a press conference here Thursday.
"Altogether 5,857,442 votes have been counted so far and Abdullah is ahead with 43.8 percent of the votes, while Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai ranked second with 32.9 percent and Zalmai Rassoul secured the third position with 11.1 percent," Xinhua quoted Nuristani as saying.
More than seven million out of some 12 million eligible voters had voted in the April 5 presidential election amid a Taliban threat of violence and tight security.
Eight politicians had joined the presidential race to succeed outgoing president Hamid Karzai, who has ruled Afghanistan since the Taliban regime was ousted in late 2001.
To secure victory, a candidate must win more than 50 percent of valid ballots. Otherwise, the top two candidates will go into a run-off.
"Still some 17.5 percent of the votes have remained uncounted and after the counting is finished we will announce the preliminary result Saturday," Nuristani added.
The final official result of the election will be announced May 14 after examination of all complaints registered with the election complaints commission.
"Since none of the presidential runners has secured over 50 percent of the votes, the run-off is a natural fact between the two frontrunners," political analyst Mia Gul Wasiq stated.
However, spokesman for the election commission, Noor Mohammad Noor, cautioned not to jump to a conclusion.
"It is too early to say that the election will be going into the second round," Noor said.
According to official reports, both Abdullah and his top rival Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai are ready for a run-off.
"Although it is difficult to predict a second round, the positions and the percentages of votes secured by the presidential hopefuls so far has made the run-off possible," political analyst and former presidential contender Bashir Bezhan said.
Comments
| Quick linksNews
National
International
Regional
Politics
Education & Career
Business
Science & Technology
Health
Views & Analysis
The Funny Side
© 2012 Awaz Multimedia & Publications. All rights reserved.
Varanasi comes to a halt as Modi juggernaut rollsThe city seemed to be in a state of euphoria as normal life came to a halt with traffic jams and shuttered shops as tens of thousands of people accompanied the Gujarat chief minister Narendra who .... More
Also Read: Opponents plan to slice up Modi's Varanasi pie
Amethi seethes with anger at Rahul GandhiFor Rahul Gandhi, a mere win from Amethi, a Congress citadel and the chosen electoral battle ground for his uncle Sanjay, father Rajiv and mother Sonia for decades will be nothing to gloat over..... More
Also Read: Will Nehru-Gandhi dynasty reboot or fade out?
This is a very significant development because the leaders of the 11 parties have indicated that individual parties can go in for seat arrangements in their respective states. Right now they together have 92 seats in the current Lok Sabha. .... More
In a letter dashed to Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde Thursday a local NGO asserted that Reliance Industries Chief Mukesh Ambani had grabbed Waqf land by fraudulent means and urged the minister to initiate a high-level enquiry by Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) against Ambani and others involved in the case.. ... More
Also Read: Shame on Ambani who occupied land of orphans: Asaduddin