KABUL: Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani appeared to have secured a second term on Sunday after election officials announced preliminary results from polls that were marred by low turnout.
Ghani’s apparent clean win, however, was unlikely to immediately quell the controversy swirling around the September 28 poll, with his top rival Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah vowing to contest the result.
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Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission (IEC) said Ghani had won 50.64 percent of the vote, easily besting Abdullah, who scored 39.52 percent, and enough to avoid a second-round runoff.
Candidates now have three days to file any complaints they may have before final results are announced, probably within a few weeks.
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As soon as results were announced, Abdullah’s office said in a statement that he would contest them. Ghani’s office did not immediately comment, but the president was due to give an address today evening.
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