CRI听力:Final Result of Afghan Presidential Elections to be Announced on Aug. 24

The final results of the Afghan presidential election are to be announced on the 24th of August.

The head of the Election Commission has confirmed the date and says the preliminary results of the presidential polls will be announced this coming Monday.

The initial results were supposed to be out yesterday.

But electoral authorities have delayed the announcement of the preliminary results to allegations of voter fraud.

Abdullah Abdullah, one of the two contenders to become Afghanistan's next president, is accusing his opponents supporters of stuffing the ballot boxes in last month's run-off.

"The fact that 7.5 million votes were devoted, the turnout is 7.5 million that itself is questionable. And nobody has answered our concerns to this, explain it to us that what is the base of that claim. And there are other issues as well, including the involvement of election officers and the ballot was stuffed in one day before the election in several places."

Afghanistan's chief election official has already resigned over fraud allegations.

Abdullah led the first round of voting by a margin of nearly 14 points, winning 45 percent of the vote.

His closest rival, ex-World Bank economist Ashraf Ghani, received around 31 percent support.

However, indications from observers in the run-off are suggesting Ghani has a wide lead in the 2nd round of voting.

The fraud allegations are creating concerns about an ethnic rift exploding in Afghanistan.

The UN says it fears the standoff between Abdullah, who draws his support from the minority Tajik community, and Ghani, a member of the Pashtun majority, could inflame long-simmering ethnic tensions.

The Pashtun are Afghanistan's largest ethnic group, while the Tajiks are the second largest.