Hamid Kazai has a narrow lead over his main rival following last week”s presidential election in Afghanistan, election authorities said, citing early results.
With 10% of ballots from more than 27,000 polling sites nationwide counted, the incumbent has 212,927 votes. His closest rival, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, has 202,889. The results suggest the possibility of a runoff.
The presidential elections were hailed as a success by the United States, the European Union, and the United Nations, although the vote was marred by Taliban violence and fraud accusations against Karzai.
The Independent Election Commission said Karzai was leading with 40.6%, followed by Abdullah with 38.7%.
Central Election Commission secretary Daud Nadjafi told reporters in Kabul that 555,842 votes had been counted so far, with over 31,000 of them found to be non-valid.
