KABUL, Afghanistan, April 14 (UPI) -- As votes are counted in Afghanistan's presidential election that was held April 5, the Independent Election Commission has identified former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah as the early frontrunner.
On Sunday, IEC Chairman Ahmad Yousuf Nuristani announced the national tally "of partial results" of the election. So far, the IEC has counted 85 percent of the ballots from 34 provinces. The IEC has not yet entered the results for eight other provinces.
Former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah captured 41.89 percent of the votes so far tallied. Former Finance Minister Mohammad Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai was in second place with 37.60 percent of the vote.
The IEC commissioner cautioned that with the vote count not yet complete, it was too early to determine a clear winner or whether a run-off would be necessary.
7 million Afghans voted in the presidential elections, despite threats of violence by the Taliban. The IEC reported that 6,218 polling centers operated with no problems, while security threats prohibited voting at 205 polling centers.
The IEC expects to finalize the official tally in the next several days. The winner will be Afghanistan's first democratically-elected president.
[Afghanistan Independent Election Commission] [CNN]
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