KABUL, Oct 15 (AFP) - Incumbent President Hamid Karzai remained far ahead in Afghanistan's election race with prelimary results in from less than one percent of votes cast last weekend, polling authorities announced Friday.
Karzai had just over 56 percent of 36,000 counted ballots, an estimated 0.4 percent of the votes cast Saturday in the war-ravaged country's first presidential election, the electoral commission said on its website.
Around 17 percent went to former education minister Yunus Qanooni and 15 percent to Uzbek warlord Abdul Rashid Dostam.
On Thursday the first figures released in the vote count gave Karzai a lead of nearly 59 percent from 26,000 ballots counted.
The results released on Friday were from partial counts in the northern provinces of Balkh, Kunduz and Takhar and three eastern provinces, Kabul, Logar and Wardak.
The preliminary results are regarded with caution as Afghanistan is made up of 34 provinces with markedly different ethnic populations that could deliver very different results.
The green light for counting to begin was given on Thursday after the process had stalled following complaints from several candidates of irregularities.
A panel of international experts set up to investigate the claims of fraud gave the go-ahead after determining that there were potentially problems at only 10 of the country's 4,800 polling stations.
Counting got under way on Thursday at five of eight regional counting centres and was to begin on Saturday at the others, after a break for the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.