AFGHANISTAN: Afghanistan's interim leader, Mr Hamid Karzai, coasted towards victory in the country's presidential election yesterday when his share of the vote passed the 50 per cent mark, writes Declan Walsh in Kabul.
With 94 per cent of the vote counted he had 4.2 million of the estimated 8.2 million ballots cast: enough to avoid a run-off against his nearest rival Yunus Qanooni, who trailed a distant second with 1.2 million votes.
A spokesman for Mr Qanooni conceded defeat last night, according to Reuters, but official confirmation of Mr Karzai's victory was frozen pending the outcome of an investigation into alleged polling irregularities. The inquiry, now confined to 12 disputed ballot boxes, is unlikely to affect the final result.
Although marred by blunders and fraud allegations, the election, held on October 9th, was hailed as a watershed after a quarter of a century of violent chaos. Millions of Afghans braved threats of violence or harsh weather to vote.