(Kabul) – Former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah is leading Ashraf Ghani in Afghanistan’s presidential election by 11 percentage points after half of the ballots were counted, officials said Sunday, with a runoff vote likely next month.
The Independent Election Commission (IEC) said Abdullah was on 44.4 percent with former World Bank economist Ghani on 33.2 percent of the ballots so far counted from April 5, when eight candidates contested the race to succeed Hamid Karzai.
If no single candidate gains more than 50 percent of the vote, a runoff between the two leading names is tentatively scheduled for May 28.
