One million Afghan votes counted

Fraud favours Karzai, says poll rival Qanuni

Afghanistan's interim leader Hamid Karzai has a 45-point lead after the first million votes were counted in the country's presidential poll.

But his main rival, Yunus Qanuni, on Monday accused organisers of "robbing the people's vote".

Officials acknowledge problems with the poll, especially with ink used to mark people's hands to stop repeat votes.

About 13% of the total ballots cast have now been counted, drawn from 29 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces.

Simple majority

Mr Karzai is widely expected to secure victory in the country's first direct elections for president, but the count may take several weeks.

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With 1.04m votes tallied by Monday morning, Mr Karzai had captured 62.6%.

That puts him on course for the simple majority needed to avoid a run-off.

But complaints have overshadowed what is widely viewed as being a hugely successful achievement for Afghanistan.

Mr Qanuni claims to have evidence of organised fraud in favour of Mr Karzai and that the UN-Afghan electoral commission was ignoring his complaints.

"If His Excellency Mr Karzai, my old friend, succeeds in a fair and transparent election, I will congratulate him and co-operate with him," Mr Qanuni told reporters.

"But if the result is fraudulent, the legitimacy of this election will be in question."

A three-member panel established by the United Nations and the UN-Afghan Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB) is investigating charges of irregularities.

Ballot boxes from 10 polling stations have been isolated as a result.

Correspondents say there is evidence that significant numbers voted more than once.