Karzai 'is Afghan election victor'

Afghanistan’s Hamid Karzai has won 54% of votes counted in the country’s presidential election, officials said today.

With almost all of the votes counted the results show that Mr Karzai has surpassed the important 50% threshold for the first time. He needs a simple majority to avoid a two-man run-off. The country’s electoral commission said nearly 92% of votes have been counted.

However the UN-backed Electoral Complaints Commission ordered a re-count of ballots where it had found “convincing evidence” of fraud,“ meaning Mr Karzai could still have votes taken away from him.

Results will not be officially certified until later this month, after fraud allegations have been investigated.