Afghanistan waits

The Afghan election authority has finished counting the majority of ballots cast and plans to announce results on Tuesday.

"The counting is finished for the presidential race," Independent Election Commission official Zekria Barakzai told AFP news agency. Counting for the provincial vote is continuing in Kabul, Nangarhar and Herat, he said.

Barakzai described voter turnout as "satisfactory," estimating that between 40 to 50 percent of the roughly 17 million Afghans eligible to vote went to the polls.

Despite the lack of official results, the two main candidates' campaigns both claimed victories on Friday.

Karzai and Abdullah both confident

"Initial results show that the president has got a majority," incumbent president Hamid Karzai's campaign manager told Reuters news agency.

"We will not go to a second round. We have got a majority," said Deen Mohammad, adding that it was up to the election commission to release official results.

Mohammad said his data was based on information from almost 29,000 monitors that the Karzai campaign had stationed at polling booths around the country.

However, Karzai's chief rival - former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah - contested this claim.

"It isn't true," said spokesman Fazl Sangcharaki. "We also say, maybe we don't need a second round, because Abdullah has won."

Elections in Afghanistan were relatively peaceful, despite Taliban threats to disrupt the vote. There were reports of sporadic violence throughout the country, with over 20 deaths on Thursday. Still, the attacks were less serious than many experts had feared.

The Taliban had also discouraged people from going to the polls in a bid to lower turnout and tarnish the vote's legitimacy.

Based on election commission estimates, turnout was lower than in the previous poll, in 2005.

msh/AFP/Reuters
Editor: Nancy Isenson