Ghani Poised for Victory in Afghanistan Presidential Race

Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai won an initial count to become Afghanistan’s next president while agreeing with his opponent to audits of the vote that the U.S. said may change the outcome of the country’s first power transfer since 2001.

Ghani, a former finance minister, took 56 percent of the vote, with ex-foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah getting 44 percent, Ahmad Yusuf Nuristani, chairman of the Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan, told reporters in Kabul yesterday. The two camps agreed to audit the results of about a third of all polling stations in response to concerns of fraud.