Frontrunner in Afghan vote rules out coalition government --- (Reuters) - A frontrunner to succeed Hamid Karzai as Afghanistan's president voiced the possibility of teaming up with a rival on Wednesday but ruled out forming a coalition government in order to avoid a second-round runoff. -- Preliminary tallies put former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah in the lead in parts of the capital Kabul. But it could be weeks before a countrywide winner emerges from the field of eight candidates because Afghanistan's rugged terrain and weak infrastructure make tallying all the ballots so difficult. -- Speaking to Reuters at his home on Wednesday, Abdullah said he met his rival, another ex-foreign minister Zalmai Rassoul, shortly after the April 5 election to discuss possibilities. -- "I had asked for that meeting. We had a good discussion. I will not go into the details of it but you can imagine that at this stage we are not talking about the weather or leisure," he said. -- "We have been in the same government in the old days, we have been friends for many years. So that is the personal part of it. The rest of it depends on the common understanding of certain subjects and certain policies." -- Abdullah has been noticeably more critical of the other frontrunner, ex-finance minister Ashraf Ghani. Asked if he could work with Ghani, he said with a tinge of sarcasm: "Mr Ghani has declared himself the winner. So let him absorb the victory." -- If none of the candidates gets more than 50 percent, a runoff will have to be held, at the earliest in late May, considerably prolonging the wait for a winner to be declared. --- Foreign donors, who are hesitant about bankrolling the Afghan government after the bulk of NATO troops leaves, will also closely scrutinize the composition of the country's future government to decide if they can work with the new team. - More, Maria Golovnina, at: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/04/09/us-afghanistan-election-idUSBREA381SC20140409