Abdullah, Karzai Tied in Early Results

Source: UPI

KABUL, Afghanistan, Aug. 21 (UPI) -- Preliminary results for the presidential vote in Afghanistan show incumbent President Hamid Karzai tied with his former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah.

More than 3,000 candidates competed for the 420 seats on the provincial councils, while roughly 40 challengers emerged to unseat Karzai.

Karzai and Abdullah emerged Friday to declare rival victories. Preliminary results from the vote tally showed Karzai taking the majority of the votes in the southern and eastern provinces, while Abdullah secured his lead in many of the provinces north of Kabul, the Pajhwok Afghan News reports.

Karzai appeared set for a second term in office, though early results suggest the election may go to another round if neither leading candidate secures a clear majority.

more: http://www.upi.com/Emerging_Threats/2009/08/21/Abdullah-Karzai-tied-in-early-results/UPI-67801250882943/

Independent, patriotic and freethinking Karzai supporters will disrupt the vote recount in the Florida Province.

It will go to a second vote, set for October.

It would indicate that there was an element of fairness in the election

And that the Pashtun turn out was very very low.

and others saying up to 50% turnout. It would make sense that Pashtun areas is where the low turnout is reporting from. Those were the areas most at risk for violence.

It could be a real campaign for the run-off election. With just two candidates, distinctions could be made clearer.