Afghan presidential hopefuls rally supporters ahead of run-off --- (Reuters) - The two leading candidates in the race to become Afghanistan's next president rallied supporters and urged election officials to come clean on fraud on Sunday as the country readied for an expected grueling run-off in June. -- Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani, both ministers in the transition government after U.S.-led forces drove the Taliban from power in 2001, shared over three-quarters of the nearly 7 million votes cast, but neither clinched an absolute majority. -- If, as expected, the final results due next month show no outright winner, a second round will be held on June 7. -- After decades of war and foreign occupation, Afghanistan is being left to stand on its own feet this year with the political change-of-guard and the withdrawal of foreign combat troops by December 31. -- More than 12 years after U.S. troops invaded Afghanistan to capture al Qaeda militants blamed for the September 11 attacks on the United States, a potent Islamist insurgency is still the biggest problem confronting the government. -- With an eye on a run-off, the two frontrunners rallied their supporters on Sunday, applauding them for coming out in record numbers to vote. The turnout in the first round was 50 percent higher than the 2009 vote. -- "If round one was a new beginning then round two is the maturity of democracy and an opportunity to strengthen national unity," Ghani told a news conference. "We expect our supporters will have a widespread participation in the runoff." - More, http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/27/us-afghanistan-election-idUSBREA3Q0E420140427