Afghanistan: Ashraf Ghani leads in Afghan presidential runoff, preliminary results show --- KABUL — Former World Bank official Ashraf Ghani is leading his rival, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, in a presidential runoff election held last month that would mark Afghanistan’s first peaceful transfer of power through the ballot, according to preliminary results released Monday by Afghan election authorities. -- The announcement by the country’s Independent Electoral Commission was not final, however, pending an official probe into nearly 2,000 polling stations suspected of registering fraudulent ballots. -- Abdullah has accused election officials and the Ghani campaign of widespread vote-rigging, and he announced shortly after the June 14 runoff that he did not recognize the ballot-counting process as legitimate. -- The two sides have been engaged in heated negotiations over the possibility of a more comprehensive recount of votes at polling centers where the voting patterns appear suspicious, but they have so far failed to agree on the criteria. -- The Abdullah campaign had vehemently opposed the release of preliminary results without the separation of fraudulent votes from the tally, and many observers are worried that the announcement will set off a round of election-related violence. -- “The threat of violence from Abdullah’s camp is for political bargaining,” said Khalil Roman, a Kabul-based political analyst and former deputy chief of staff for the current president, Hamid Karzai. -- “It’s not a good option,” he said. “But they want to enter into political negotiations [with the Ghani campaign] from a stronger position.” -- Ghani, a former Afghan finance minister, finished second to Abdullah in the first round of presidential voting in April, but Abdullah did not attain a majority, necessitating the runoff. - More, Erin Cunningham, http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia_pacific/ashraf-ghani-leads-in-afghan-presidential-runoff-preliminary-results-show/2014/07/07/63ffdaa0-05e5-11e4-8a6a-19355c7e870a