The interim Afghan President Hamid Karzai has been maintaining a leading position in the ballot counting since it started last Thursday as he garnered 65.2 percent of over 500,000 votes counted so far, the Afghan election website said Sunday.

"Out of 534,310 votes counted so far 348,236 or 65.2 percent of them went for Karzai," the website said.

Karzai, who enjoys significant support both at home and abroad, secured 77 percent of over 200,000 votes counted Saturday in eight counting centers.

His nearest rival and former Education Minister Mohammad Yunus Qanooni is far behind Karzai as he got 79,649 or 14.9 percent of the votes counted till Sunday afternoon.

The Uzbek General Abdul Rashid Dostum who commands major parts of the five northern provinces and Hazara leader Mohammad Mohaqiq who enjoys support among Hazara minority, have earned 11.1 percent and 2.6 percent of the votes, respectively, while the lone female candidate Masouda Jalal bagged only 1.0 percent of the votes counted so far.

Over 12 million Afghans both at home and abroad had registered to vote in the country's first-ever direct presidential election, held on October 9. The exact turnout is yet to be announced while the final result of the voting is expected to be announced later this month.
 
Karzai, who came to power with the US support nearly three years ago and commands major parts of the Pashtun-dominated areas in the south, southeast and east Afghanistan is widely believed to win the election and retain his job for another five years.

(Xinhua News Agency October 18, 2004)