--- description: Abdullah currently leads with 44% of the votes tallied so far, though that could change before final results are announced on May 14 title: Afghan election results show Abdullah ahead image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt71076365718a901f/69868b7f810bbb2f78c91245/rtr3k0vh.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [World](/section/world/) ## World Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Abdullah Ahead in Latest Afghanistan Election Results  by [Nolan Feeney](/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 20, 2014 2:43 PM CUT  Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah speaks to the media after voting at a polling station in Kabul on April 5, 2014 Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah speaks to the media after voting at a polling station in Kabul on April 5, 2014Ahmad Masood—Reuters  by [Nolan Feeney](/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Apr 20, 2014 2:43 PM CUT **_Updated: April 21, 6:40 a.m._** Partial results from Afghanistan’s presidential election released Sunday reveal candidate Abdullah Abdullah [as the front runner](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/abdullah-still-ahead-new-afghan-vote-results "undefined"), though a runoff election still appears likely. Abdullah, a former Foreign Minister who ran against outgoing President Hamid Karzai in the last election, has 44 percent of the votes that have been tallied so far, the Associated Press reports. Abdullah’s closest competitor, former Finance Minister and World Bank official Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, has received 33.2 percent of the vote. Either candidate will [need](http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2014/04/20/exforeign%5Fminister%5Fabdullah%5Fstrengthens%5Flead%5Fin%5Fafghan%5Fvote%5Fresults.html "undefined") to secure more than 50 percent of the vote to avoid a runoff election. Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission announced the results, which represent close to half of the approximately 7 million votes cast in the April 5 election. Final election results are expected on May 14. The victor will oversee Afghanistan through a period of transition as the U.S. and other NATO countries are expected to withdraw troops from the nation. Both candidates have called for a new start with Western countries and have promised to sign a U.S. security pact with which Karzai has refused to agree. \[[_AP_](http://bigstory.ap.org/article/abdullah-still-ahead-new-afghan-vote-results "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/69413/afghanistan-election-results-abdullah/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/69413/afghanistan-election-results-abdullah/"},"headline":"Abdullah Ahead in Latest Afghanistan Election Results","datePublished":"2014-04-20T14:43:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T07:23:54.325Z","description":"Former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah has pulled ahead with 44 percent of the votes tallied so far, followed by former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai with 33.2 percent, though final results won't be announced until May 14","url":"https://time.com/69413/afghanistan-election-results-abdullah/","keywords":["Afghanistan","elections","Taliban"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt71076365718a901f/69868b7f810bbb2f78c91245/rtr3k0vh.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nolan Feeney","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/"}],"articleSection":"World","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt71076365718a901f/69868b7f810bbb2f78c91245/rtr3k0vh.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah speaks to the media after voting at a polling station in Kabul","caption":"Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah speaks to the media after voting at a polling station in Kabul","creditText":"Ahmad Masood—Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/world/","name":"World"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/69413/afghanistan-election-results-abdullah/","name":"Abdullah Ahead in Latest Afghanistan Election Results"}}]}] ```