国际英语新闻:Abdullah claims victory in Afghanistan's presidential poll

KABUL, Sept. 30 (Xinhua) -- Afghan government Chief Executive and presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah on Monday foresaw his victory in the poll, saying that his election team had secured more votes than the rivals in the voting held on Saturday.

"Votes cast for us on Saturday's presidential election are higher than any other in the race. We come with high votes in the poll," Abdullah told reporters here.

However, he pointed out that the final results of the election will be announced by the country's Independent Election Commission (IEC).

Abdullah also expressed gratitude to Afghans who cast votes and hailed institutions and security forces for the role they played in holding the election amid Taliban threats and intimidation.

According to initial figures released by IEC, about 2.2 million voters cast their votes in 3,736 polling centers out of 4,905 polling centers where election materials were dispatched.

Over 9.4 million eligible voters registered to cast their votes during the polling. Thousands of voters had been deprived of their right to vote, as election workers could not find their names in voters' registration lists.

However, officials with the election body say that no one can judge the outcome of the elections and the election commission is the only authorized body that declares that elections' result after counting the votes and investigation of all the complaints over alleged fraud.

Fourteen out of the 18 registered candidates contested for the presidency and among them are sitting Afghan President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani.

Preliminary results of the presidential election will be unveiled on Oct. 19 and the final results of the election are expected to be announced on Nov. 7, according to election timetable.

If none of the candidates wins over 50 percent of the votes in the first round, the two front-runners will enter runoff slated for late November.