Abdullah Abdullah

A U.N.-backed election commission has determined that neither of the two leading candidates received a majority of votes. That finding could result in a runoff between Karzai and his leading opponent, Abdullah Abdullah.

With only 10 percent of ballots in, the Afghan election commission says President Hamid Karzai and challenger Abdullah Abdullah each have about 40 percent of the vote, with Karzai holding a slight lead.

Preliminary results are coming in from Afghanistan’s hotly-contested presidential election. For a look at the early results, The Takeaway talks to Christine Fair of Georgetown’s Center for Peace and Security Studies and the BBC’s Martin Patience.

Despite threats of violence from the Taliban, Afghans headed to the polls to vote in the country’s second-ever presidential election. Brian Katulis, an election monitor with Democracy International, joins The Takeaway from Kabul.

Afghanistan will hold a deciding round of its problem-hit presidential poll on November 7th, pitting incumbent Hamid Karzai against his rival Abdullah Abdullah. Marco Werman talks with Waheed Omer, a campaign spokesperson for Karzai.