2019 Afghanistan Presidential Election Results Sunday Dec 22,2019

Afghan officials announced Sunday Dec 22,2019 that President Ashraf Ghani had won reelection by a hair's breadth in a nationwide Sep 28,2019 vote, netting 50.64 percent of the preliminary tally — the majority he needed to avoid a second round of voting

Abdullah Abdullah, Ghani's estranged governing partner and main contender, denounced the preliminary results as "fraudulent" and vowed to challenge them.

The announcement Sunday came after weeks of delay, controversy and protests by opponents

The Independent Election Commission (IEC) said the total turnout in the presidential election was more than 1.8 million with Ghani securing 50.64% – enough to win in the first round of voting – beating his main challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, who shares power with Ghani in a unity government.

According to the tally released by the IEC on Sunday, the total turnout was 1,824,401 with Ghani winning 923,868 votes. Abdullah finished second with 39.5% and 720,099 votes.

Abdullah’s office said in a statement that he did not accept the preliminary results published on Sunday and that the commission had failed to tackle election fraud