Afghan presidential vote: Abdullah claims victory in first round

Dr Abdullah Abdullah speaks at a news conference in Kabul.

ISLAMABAD: Former Afghan foreign minister Dr Abdullah Abdullah on Sunday claimed he has won the first round of the presidential elections in the country. He was speaking at a news conference in Kabul a day after Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission (IEC) announced the full preliminary results of the vote. While the unofficial results put the former foreign minister ahead of all other rivals, he has failed to secure more than 50% of the vote needed to emerge a clear winner. Abdullah, who secured 44.9% of the vote, is followed closely by former World Bank economist Dr Ashraf Ghani, who secured 31.5% of the vote. Abdullah said it was too early to decide whether a second round of polls was needed. He accused President Hamid Karzai’s government of interfering in the polls and lashed out at the country’s electoral bodies for failing to ensure transparent polls.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 28^th, 2014.