Abdullah leads Ahmadzai in early results

KABUL (Pajhwok): The Independent Election Commission (IEC) on Sunday released partial returns from last week’s presidential vote, showing Abdullah Abdullah in a tight race with his closest rival Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai.

Based on 10 percent votes (506,843 votes) from 26 of the country’s 34 provinces, the results showed Abdullah was in the lead with 41.9 percent or 212,312 votes, followed by Ahmadzai with 37.6 percent or 190,561 votes.

Dr. Zalmai Rassoul trailed far behind with 9.8 percent or 49,821 votes, Abdul Rab Rassoul Sayyaf secured 5.1 percent or 25,679 votes, Qutbuddin Hilal 2.7 percent or 13,536 votes and Muhammad Shafiq Gul Agha Sherzai 2.2 percent or 11,132 votes.

Another candidate Daud Sultanzoyi secured 0.5 percent or 2,442 votes while Hidayat Amin Arsala bagged 0.3 percent or 1,360 votes.

Ahmad Yousuf Nuristani, the IEC chief, who announced the partial results, made it clear that the results were not final and could change in future.

As many as seven million people cast their votes in the April 5 elections.  Partial results were earlier scheduled for Saturday, but postponed until Sunday.

Dozens of photos and video clips have been released on social media sites, showing instances of widespread fraud in some polling stations. The IEC on Sunday said it had recorded 870 incidents of fraud classed as “Priority A”, complaints considered serious enough to affect the outcome of the election.

Independent Electoral Complaints Commission (IECC) spokesman Nadir Muhseni said so far 3,274 complaints had been registered and 1,892 of them had documents in support.

Among the complaints classed as “Priority A, 338 are against presidential runners, 537 against provincial council contenders and 1,017 against IEC staff. Final results are due on May 14.

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