Afghan President Hamid Karzai won 54.6 percent of the preliminary result released Wednesday from controversial elections, but his victory is not secure until massive claims of vote fraud are resolved. The Independent Election Commission (IEC) released figures which put Karzai on track to win a second term with more than the necessary 50 percent plus one vote, a clear lead on nearest rival Abdullah Abdullah, who has 27.7 percent.
"Based on the preliminary results that we have announced today, Hamid Karzai is at the front of the queue," IEC official Daud Ali Najafi told reporters. "This is just the preliminary results, we will have final results when we investigate the (fraud) claims," he said. It was "impossible" to announce Afghanistan's new president on Thursday as originally scheduled, he added.