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Afghanistan Presidential Election Results Delayed


Afghan election workers count ballots in the presidential runoff at a polling station in Jalalabad, east of Kabul, June 14, 2014.
Afghan election workers count ballots in the presidential runoff at a polling station in Jalalabad, east of Kabul, June 14, 2014.

Officials in Afghanistan are delaying preliminary results for the nation's run-off presidential election.

VOA Deewa service reporters say sources on the Independent Election Commission have failed to agree on an announcement on the preliminary results as scheduled for Wednesday and will now announce the results in one week.

Candidate Abdullah Abdullah has vowed to reject the election results, saying massive ballot box stuffing occurred during the June 14 poll. Abdullah went into the second-round run-off election widely seen as the favorite to succeed President Hamid Karzai.

The former foreign minister is running against former finance minister Ashraf Ghani.

Earlier this month, Abdullah said he was boycotting the vote-counting process because the Independent Election Commission had failed to address his fraud concerns.

The inconclusive election has left Afghanistan in limbo at a dangerous time, with a Taliban insurgency raging, and most NATO-led forces preparing to leave the country by the end of the year.

An agreement with Washington to allow a smaller U.S. military presence to stay remains unsigned, as Karzai had wanted his successor to sign the pact.

The United Nations' mission chief in Afghanistan has warned the "rising tensions" following the election could lead to a "protracted confrontation with a danger of a slide into violence."

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