Afghan men look on an election billboard of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who is also a presidential candidate, on the Kabul-Jalalabad highway, east of Kabul, Afghanistan, on Sunday. (Rahmat Gul/Associated Press)Afghan President Hamid Karzai's bid for re-election was boosted Saturday by news that he took 54.3 per cent of last month's vote, according to partial results from the country's electoral commission.
With just under 93 per cent of all polling stations counted, the tally gave Karzai's rival Abdullah Abdullah 28.1 per cent.
Were those results to hold — with Karzai taking more than 50 per cent — it would be enough for him to claim victory without having to hold a runoff vote.
"The important threshold here is 50 per cent," the CBC's James Murray reported from Kandahar.
Since the vote, a complaints body backed by the United Nations has been investigating hundreds of election fraud allegations. The election results will not be certified as final until those investigations are complete.
The electoral commission had intended to release full preliminary results 10 days ago. Officials said the commission could still be weeks away from naming a certified winner.
Given the wrangling over the vote result, Murray said, a cloud remains over Karzai's re-election hopes, at least for now.
"It's difficult to see at this point if he can be declared the president," Murray said.
Deadly attacks
Meanwhile, at least 50 people died across Afghanistan on Saturday in a string of violent attacks.
The attacks took the lives of civilians, security forces and militants.
In the southern city of Kandahar — the part of the country where Canadian troops are based — two Taliban suicide bombers attacked an Afghan intelligence officers' office.
In the province of Kabul, gunfire broke out after an apparent spat between a U.S. official and an Afghan police officer, seriously wounding both.
With files from The Associated Press
