With nearly one-quarter of the 9 October ballots counted, electoral officials say Karzai leads the field of 16 presidential candidates with 61.8 percent.

Spokesman Hamed Elmi told AP today that Karzai's team believes he is sure to win a majority of the estimated 8 million votes cast and will thus be able to avoid a runoff.

Karzai's closest challenger, former Education Minister Mohammad Yunos Qanuni, declined yesterday to concede defeat and alleged that electoral fraud gave Karzai the advantage.

Qanuni is reportedly second among vote getters with 18.2 percent of the vote.

(AP/afg-electionresults.org)

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