Count shows slimmer Karzai lead

A simple majority is needed by one candidate to avoid a run-off

President Hamid Karzai's share of the Afghan election vote has trimmed by four points in a day to 56%, with about 62% of ballots counted.

He is still 39 points ahead of Yunus Qanuni but must secure just over 50% to avoid a run-off vote.

Organisers refuse to declare a result until all votes are counted and a UN probe of irregularities is completed.

A UN spokesman said on Thursday all 18 candidates had filed complaints to the three-member UN panel.

Swearing in

The BBC's Andrew North in Kabul says the vote counting process has speeded up dramatically since Tuesday.

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Afghanistan

Thursday's latest figures, with 62.2% of votes counted, give Mr Karzai 56%, with Mr Qanuni on 17% and General Abdul Rashid Dostum and Mohammed Mohaqiq both on 10%. Others total 7%.

Reginald Austin, chief technical adviser to the Joint Election Management Body (JEMB), said Thursday should make it clear "what the situation is".

Mr Austin said that mathematical projections on Thursday should also indicate whether Mr Karzai would have enough votes to avoid a second round of voting.

"If we have a run off, we have a lot of work to do," he said.

Qanuni says he will make a "sacrifice" to accept the result

The eventual winner will not be sworn in or be able to form his cabinet for another month

The turnout is expected to be around two-thirds of about 12m registered voters.

The JEMB electoral body said it would not officially declare a winner until all votes were counted and investigations by the UN into irregularities were completed.

One Western election official said: "In many elections, the winner is officially declared before all the votes are counted, once it becomes clear that the trend cannot be reversed.

"But in Afghanistan, because it is the first election and organisers do not want to seem dismissive with candidates who have filed complaints, it will not happen."

Panel meeting

UN spokesman Manoel de Almeida e Silva said: "All candidates have filed complaints individually or as a group."

All candidates have filed complaints individually or as a group Manoel de Almeida e Silva, UN spokesman

He said about 100 documents had been submitted to the UN panel.

The three panel members, from Britain, Sweden and Canada, will meet the candidates for a second time at the start of next week.

Mr Qanuni made claims of voting irregularities as early as election day itself.

However, he has accepted the jurisdiction of a UN inquiry and on Wednesday said he would also accept the election result.

"I have made sacrifices for the national interests of Afghanistan and I am ready to make another sacrifice," the former education minister said.

Fraud allegations centred on indelible ink that was shown to rub off voters' fingers, but also included claims of ballot stuffing.

Meanwhile, the head an Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) monitoring team warned Afghan authorities that immediate action was necessary to prevent a postponement of legislative polls due next May.

Robert Barry said the polls would be "much more difficult to administer" than the presidential election.