Kabul, August 11: A voter survey conducted by a US-based organization in Afghanistan showed that Afghan President Hamid Karzai leads the presidential race with 36 per cent of the electorate supporting him, but still not enough to win in the first round.
The survey, funded by the US government and conducted in the country’s 34 provinces between July 8-17, showed Abdullah Abdullah, a former foreign minster, the closest competitor for Karzai with 20 per cent support.
The country’s second presidential election is scheduled for August 20.
The survey of 3,566 Afghan adults showed that Ashraf Ghani, a former finance minister, and Ramazan Bashardost, a former planning minister, were the two other top candidates from the pool of 41 candidates which also includes two women.
“Ramazan Bashardost and Dr Ashraf Ghani received support from 7 per cent and 3 per cent of registered voters, respectively,” Glevum Associates Social Science Research & Analysis (SSRA), which conducted the survey, said.
“The remaining 37 candidates all are at less than 2 per cent in the survey, and collectively they get just 13 per cent of the vote,” it said, adding that 20 per cent of the respondents were undecided, or refused to answer.
Karzai is supported by 45 per cent of the voters who already decided, while Abdullah receives 25 per cent, it said, adding, “As Karzai is below 50 per cent of the vote in this decided voter model, a runoff would occur if these numbers hold on August 20.”
Ethnic polarization and regional differences in the level of support for leading candidates “are significant,” it said, adding that Karzai had big leads over his nearest rival Abdullah in his fellow Pashtun areas of the east and south-west, with margins of 45 per cent and 52 per cent respectively. Abdullah was slightly ahead among his main supporters, the Tajik voters, with plus 4 per cent.
The survey is the first of its kind since the presidential campaign began in around mid-June. In another opinion poll in May, Karzai got 31 per cent support, while Abdullah only got 7 per cent.
–Agencies