KABUL, Afghanistan – Two clear front-runners emerged in Afghanistan’s presidential election as partial results released Sunday showed a tight race increasingly appearing destined for a runoff vote.
Both candidates promise a fresh start with the West, vowing to sign a security pact with the United States that has been rejected by President Hamid Karzai; but their fierce rivalry has raised the possibility of divisive campaigning in what so far has been a relatively peaceful vote.
With 10 percent of the ballots counted, Abdullah Abdullah, who was Karzai’s main rival in his fraud-marred re-election in 2009, had 41.9 percent of the vote. Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, a former finance minister and World Bank official, followed with 37.6 percent. Zalmai Rassoul, another former foreign minister widely considered as Karzai’s pick, was a distant third with 9.8 percent.
Karzai himself was constitutionally barred from seeking a third term.
Officials cautioned the vote count could change as full preliminary results won’t be due until April 24, but the early numbers suggest none of the eight candidates likely will get the outright majority needed to avoid a runoff.
Shortly after officials announced the results, Abdullah told The Associated Press he has held talks with Rassoul but it was premature to discuss a possible alliance. The 53 year old said he will seek a unity government if elected, but he only saw one role for Ghani.
“Dr. Ghani could serve as a loyal opposition. That’s also a service to the nation,” Abdullah said in an interview at his home in Kabul.
Ghani, however, remained confident he would be in first place at the final tally. He dismissed talk of a political deal to avoid a runoff, saying he would run in a second round if needed.
“We are in a 100-minute game, and we’ve only done 10 minutes,” he said. He noted he and Abdullah are only a little over 21,000 votes apart and millions of votes remain to be counted.
Final results are to be declared in mid-May once complaints of fraud are fully investigated.
Both front-runners support women’s rights and differ largely on domestic issues, such as relations with Pakistan and peace talks with the Taliban. They also have promised to sign a bilateral security agreement with the United States that would allow thousands of foreign troops to remain in the country in a training and advisory role after 2014.
