Karzai leads count in Afghanistan

WITH 99% of the votes still to be counted in Afghanistan’s presidential election, incumbent Hamid Karzai had taken a lead that many observers expect him to retain right to the end of a marathon count.

Objections by Karzai’s opponents over voting irregularities meant counting only got under way Thursday, some five days after millions of Afghans went to the polls for the first time to pick a leader.

During the few hours of counting some 34,078 votes were tallied, of which 19,367 went to Karzai, giving him a 57.9% share of the votes counted so far, according to preliminary results posted on the UN-Afghan Joint Electoral Management Body’s website.