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. <br /> <br />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. <br /> <br />"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. <br /> <br />"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." <br /> <br />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. <br /> <br />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.
