the Wall Street Journal reports,"Based on initial results from 26 of the country's 34 provinces, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah and former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani appeared to be headed for a runoff, said Yusuf Nuristani, chairman of the Independent Election Commission.
"These results are subject to change," Mr. Nuristani added.
"A candidate may have the lead in these results, but another candidate may be in the lead in the next announcement."
The results released on Sunday were based on around 7% of the roughly seven million votes cast.
According to that partial tally, Mr. Abdullah received 41.9% of votes while Mr. Ghani got 37.6%. Before the results were announced, both candidates expressed confidence that they had won an absolute majority.
The runoff will probably be held in late May or early June, election officials said.
Despite Sunday's announcement, Messrs. Ghani and Abdullah have expressed confidence about their ability to win in the first round".
