Former World Bank economist Ashraf Ghani won Afghanistan s presidential election, according to preliminary results released on Monday, with 56.4 percent of the run-off vote to Abdullah Abdullah s 43.5 percent.
Officials said the turnout was more than eight million in the June 14 vote out of an estimated electorate of 13.5 million voters — far higher than expected, and a figure likely to trigger further allegations of fraud from both sides.
“The IEC (Independent Election Commission) admits that despite best efforts for a better election, there were some technical mistakes and shortcomings in the process,” IEC head Ahmad Yusuf Nuristani told reporters.
“We can not deny fraud and violations in the process, in some cases some security forces were involved, in other cases senior government officials like the governors or lower-level officials were involved.”
Last-minute talks delayed the release of the results by nearly five hours on Monday, as the two campaigns tried to thrash out a deal over fraud allegations that threaten to fuel instability.
Abdullah has vowed to reject the preliminary result, alleging he was the victim of “industrial-scale” ballot-box stuffing, while Ghani has said he won fairly.
