Abdullah confident ahead of Afghan presidential poll run-off

Kabul, May 15 (IANS) Afghan presidential front-runner Abdullah Abdullah said Thursday that he accepted the final result of the poll and was ready for the run-off on June 14.

"We accept the final election result. The people of Afghanistan accept it and we will go for the second round of polls," Xinhua quoted him as saying during a press conference.

"The win will be ours in the run-off. Our team is more inclusive, it includes leaders from all over the country," Abdullah said.

Earlier Thursday, the Afghan Independent Election Commission (IEC) announced the final result of the April 5 presidential election, in which Abdullah secured 45 percent of the votes followed by Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, who bagged 31.6 percent.

The two front-runners entered run-off after none of the eight candidates obtained an outright victory or more than half of the valid votes in the first round.

Earlier, former finance minister Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai expressed his readiness to take part in the run-off.

The election campaign will run from May 22 to June 11. The preliminary results will be clear on July 2 while the final result will be announced on July 22, according to IEC officials.

Over 7 million Afghans of some 12 million eligible voters cast their ballots amid Taliban threat of violence to elect a successor to the outgoing President Hamid Karzai who has ruled the war-torn country since the Taliban regime was toppled in late 2001.

The new president will be in office for five years.