30 Aug 2009

Karzai widens lead in Afghan election

1:46 pm on 30 August 2009

Afghanistan's president Hamid Karzai has pulled further ahead of his main rival as election authorities release further results from the presidential poll.

Based on results from 35% of polling stations, President Karzai has 46% compared to 31% for his main rival, Abdullah Abdullah, the Independent Election Commission (IEC) says.

Dr Abdullah has made fresh allegations of voter irregularities, calling it "massive state-engineered fraud", media reports say.

If no candidate in the 20 August election wins wins 50% of the votes, a second round of elections will be held.