KABUL - The Independent Election Commission (IEC) announced on Thursday, that a second round of elections will be held on June 14 between leading candidates Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai.

The IEC Chief Ahmad Yousuf Nuristani said at the press conference in Kabul that none of the candidates received over 50 percent of votes to avoid a runoff.

From the total 7,018,849 votes casted, Dr. Abdullah led the final results with 2,973,706 votes making up 45 percent of the total votes as Dr. Ahmadzai trailed in with 31.6 percent totaling 2,084,547 votes.

Zalmai Rassoul was in third with 11.4 percent, Abdul Rab Rassoul Sayyaf coming in fourth with 7.0 percent, Qutbuddin Helal carrying 2.8 percent, Gul Agha Sherzai with 1.6 percent, Daoud Sultanzoy with 0.5 percent and Hedayat Amin Arsala coming in last with 0.2 percent.

During a press conference, Dr. Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai said that he has accepted the final results and congratulated Dr. Abdullah for continuing onto the second round.

"Together we will win," proclaimed Dr. Ahmadzai to his followers. "We are prepared for the second round. And we congratulate Dr. Abdullah for moving to the second round."

He added that the second round of elections must be transparent and accepted by everyone.

Later in the day, Dr. Abdullah addressed the public at a press conference in reaction to IEC's final result announcement.

"Although there were problems during the election process, today's results are final," Dr. Abdullah said. "We have accepted [the results] and so have the people of Afghanistan."

Dr. Abdullah explained to his supporters that their work is not done yet.

"I hope millions of people will take part in the runoff like they did during the first round," he said. "We are competing with our rival team, not the people of Afghanistan. We are here to service the people of Afghanistan."(Tolonews)