Afghanistan: Abdullah leads early vote count for presidency

Presidential candidate Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, center, and his running mates Mohammed Mohaqiq and Mohammad Khan proved their vote casted by having ink on their fingertip.

Former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah is leading the early results from last week's voting. Abdullah has 41.9% of the votes.

Former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani was second with 37.6% of the votes, officials said.

About 7 million Afghans voted in the elections on April 5.

"Today I came here to select my next president and I hope whoever it is ... is a good person, who will help the people and bring changes to Afghanistan", a voter at a polling station told CNN.

"We need a good president so the bombings and war stops", the voter said. "I want my children to go to school without fear".

Abdullah told CNN in February that if he won the presidency, he would sign an agreement to keep international forces in Afghanistan and aid dollars coming into the nation.

NATO troops are scheduled to draw down from Afghanistan by the end of the year.