Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah has won the backing of a key rival.
The move has led to Abdullah getting the contest's first major coalition.
Zalmai Rassoul, the successor favoured by outgoing President Hamid Karzai, pledged his support for Abdullah, the top candidate from the first round.
According to the BBC, the second and final round, due in mid-June, pits Abdullah against Ashraf Ghani, a former World Bank economist.
Rassoul, a former foreign minister, was no longer in the running for the presidency, after he came third in the first round with just over 11 percent of the vote, the report added.
