Afghanistan presidential polls: Ghani leads the race in preliminary counting

Former Finance Minsiter Ashraf Ghani is leading the race by a margin of 56.44 percent votes, according to the preliminary results announced by Afghanistan's Independent Election Commisision on Monday.

According to the BBC, Ghani's opponent, Abdullah Abdullah is trailing behind at 43.56 percent in the race to claim the presidency of Afghanistan. Both Abdullah and Ghani had earlier rejected the results in the first round alleging that the votes were rigged.

Reportedly, votes are now being re-checked in almost 700 polling booths across the nation. It is being speculated that the fresh counting of votes across these polling stations may alter the results significantly because they form a third of the centres where votes were cast.

Meanwhile, the report also quoted the Chief Election Commissioner Ahmad Yusuf Nuristani as stating that the results announced on Monday were not final. He also admitted that there have been some mistakes in the overall process and therefore, there can be significant alterations in the final result.

As per the report, the final result is due to be announced on July 22. The 2014 presidential elections in Afghanistan are significant because the foreign troops are likely to withdraw from the nation by the end of this year.

The report also added that the 2009 presidential election was mired in controversy too over claims of mass fraud. President Hamid Karzai had secured a victory in the election after Dr. Abdullah had pulled out of the race alleging fraud.