Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah gestures before an interview with media at his residence in Kabul yesterday.
Former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah retained a clear lead in the latest Afghan presidential election results released yesterday, but he remained below the threshold needed for a decisive first-round victory.
Abdullah has secured 43.8% of the vote, with his main rival Ashraf Ghani on 32.9%, election officials said, after about 80% of ballots were counted.
If no candidate gains more than 50%, a second-round run-off between the two leading names is scheduled for May 28.
“With the percentage of votes (still to be counted), I suspect there will not be a winner in the first round, but I cannot say decisively,” Ahmad Yusuf Nuristani, head of the Independent Election Commission, told reporters.
Both Abdullah and Ghani, a former World Bank economist, have vowed to fight on. But a run-off election could be avoided by negotiations between the candidates in the coming weeks.
Eight men ran in the April 5 election, with polling day hailed a success by Afghan officials and foreign allies as the Taliban failed to launch a major attack despite threats to disrupt the vote. Full preliminary results are due tomorrow before the final official result is announced on May 14 .