KABUL — Afghanistan’s presidential election last month produced no outright winner, authorities announced Thursday, forcing a June 14 runoff between two pro-Western front-runners who both favor signing a long-delayed security pact with Washington.
The formation of a new government based on the second round’s results will mark the first peaceful transition of power in Afghan history through the ballot. An orderly handover is also considered crucial for the stability of Afghanistan.
Announcing the final results of the April 5 presidential vote, Ahmad Yousuf Nuristani, chairman of Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission, said Thursday that no single candidate among eight contenders won the race to succeed President Hamid Karzai, who could not run for re-election because of a term limit.
Nuristani said more than 7 million Afghans — about 58 percent of the country’s 12 million registered voters — turned out to cast ballots. He said 36 percent of the participating voters were women.
Final results showed that former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, who became a top opposition leader during Karzai’s tenure, received 45 percent of the vote, short of a majority.
In the runoff, Abdullah will face Ashraf Ghani, a former finance minister and World Bank economist, who came in second with 31.6 percent of the vote.
A national survey conducted in mid-March by Kabul-based ACSOR-Surveys found a virtual dead heat in a potential runoff between Abdullah and Ghani, driven by ethnic and regional divisions. But more than seven in 10 Afghans in the poll said they are ready to accept the eventual winner as the country’s legitimate leader.
Ghani on Thursday said he welcomes the runoff. “We accept the result of the first round and are fully prepared to refer to the valorous, Muslim and brave Afghan people to freely decide” which candidate they want as president, he said. He has promised to crack down on corruption and end what he has called a culture of impunity in Afghanistan.
Abdullah also accepted the first-round results, telling a news conference, “God willing, the victory will be of our team’s.”
