Abdullah declares victory in Afghan presidential elections

Abdullah told a news conference that "The IEC will announce the results, but we have received the majority of votes, there will be no second round.” 

Abdullah, who is running for the third time after losing in 2009 and 2014, said his team would "form the new government."

On Sunday, Afghan vice presidential candidate Amrullah Saleh also announced his victory. "According to our information, 60 to 70 percent of people voted for our team," he said.

Habib Rahman Nang, head of the Independent Electoral Commission, said the remarks were "premature."

He said: "No candidate has the right to declare himself a winner," and stressed that the right to declare the winner, belongs to the Independent Electoral Commission, in accordance with the law.

But on Monday evening Saleh retracted his remarks, in a televised interview, stressing that the content has been altered.

He later declared that, “Only the Electoral Commission has the right to declare the winner and the loser”.

He called "teams of other candidates, to respect the choice of the nation and the law and rules of the game."

Interestingly, the turnout is not yet known and the electoral commission is not expected to announce the preliminary results before October 19 and the final on November 7.

Despite the large number of candidates, the presidential election is seen as a bilateral race between Abdullah Abdullah and President Ashraf Ghani. It is the fourth presidential election since the Taliban were ousted from power in 2001.