HAMID Karzai clinched a majority of the votes cast in Afghanistan’s first presidential election, near-complete results showed yesterday, leaving him all but certain of becoming his country’s first democratically-elected leader.

Interim leader Hamid Karzai has won a majority of estimated votes cast in Afghanistan’s landmark presidential elections, according to preliminary results released today.

With half the votes counted and interim leader Hamid Karzai still holding a 40-point lead, the race for the Afghan presidency could be virtually decided today, a top election official said.

Hamid Karzai’s victory in Afghanistan’s first presidential election could be sealed within days, a top election adviser said today – unless investigators uncover major fraud.

Interim leader Hamid Karzai was certain to win Afghanistan’s landmark presidential election, his campaign spokesman said today, after early returns gave him a commanding advantage.

Afghanistan’s interim leader, Hamid Karzai, held a 45% lead today in the preliminary results of the country’s first presidential election, though a chief rival said the validity of the vote was in doubt.

Early results today put interim leader Hamid Karzai far ahead of his chief rivals in Afghanistan’s landmark presidential election as the vote count was suspended for the beginning of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

Afghan president Hamid Karzai won the first-ever presidential election with the outright majority needed to avoid a second round, and by a wide margin over his nearest competitor, according to an independent exit poll today.

A powerful earthquake devastated villages in the Hindu Kush mountains of northern Afghanistan, where Afghan officials today estimated that 1,800 people had died and thousands more were injured in a region already afflicted by drought, war and food shortages.