Afghanistan prepares for presidential runoff

KABUL, Afghanistan, June 13 (UPI) -- Afghanistan will hold an historic presidential runoff on Saturday following an April 5 election in which none of the candidates secured enough votes to be declared the winner.

The two presidential contenders are former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, who secured 45 percent of the April vote, and former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani, who got 31.6 percent of the votes.

Afghanistan's electoral rules dictate that a candidate must obtain more than 50 percent of the vote to win a first-round election.

The Taliban has threatened to attack polling stations on Saturday, and warned this week of "decisive attacks."

In April, the Taliban similarly threatened violence and carried out some attacks to deter voters. Despite their efforts, voter turnout was high.

The winner of tomorrow's runoff will be Afghanistan's first democratically-elected president.