KABUL (Pajhwok): With the vote count still underway, Chief Executive Officer Dr. Abdullah on Monday claimed winning the presidential election.
While announcing his electoral success against President Ashraf Ghani and other runners, the CEO said he had won the highest number of votes.
Addressing a news conference here, Abdullah said: "We have received the highest number of votes and the election will not go to a second round."
He ruled out a repeat of the political deadlock resulting from the previous presidential ballot.
Then US secretary of State John Kerry had intervened to defuse the 2014 crisis. The compromise led to the creation of the unity government.
But Abdullah told reporters: "The 2014 situation was different. We were the winning team at that time…Now it is 2019 and I am reiteratingonly legal votes will be accepted by us."
The Independent Election Commission (IEC) has counted more than 1.1 million votes. More than 2 million voters cast ballots in the election, a sharp decline from 7 million who voted in 2014.
"The results will be announced by the Independent Election Commission but we have the most votes. The election is not going to go to a second round," the CEO insisted.
Preliminary results of the ballot are not expected before October 17 and final outcome not until November 7, according to officials.
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