Afghan presidential candidates agree vote audit

Afghanistan's two presidential election candidates have agreed to an audit in an attempt to resolve a dispute over the result of last month's vote, US Secretary of State John Kerry has said. Both contenders, Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani, have agreed to abide by the result. The review of all 8m ballots would begin within 24 hours, Kerry said. Preliminary results suggest Ghani has won, but both candidate accuse the other of electoral fraud. Results announced by Afghanistan's election officials give Ghani 56.44% of votes in the 14 June run-off, with Abdullah gaining 43.45%. The results were markedly different from those achieved in the first round of voting, held in April, when Ghani came a distant second, according to BBC.