KABUL, Oct 19 (AFP) - Interim leader Hamid Karzai stayed far ahead Tuesday with almost a third of the votes counted from Afghanistan's historic presidential election but Taliban-led guerrillas mounted more attacks in the south.
The US-backed interim president had 61.8 percent of the 31.4 percent of ballots counted by late afternoon, according to the electoral commission website.
"This is exactly what we expected," said Hamid Elmi, Karzai's campaign spokesman.
His nearest rival out of 17 other candidates, former education minister Yunus Qanooni, had only 17.8 percent. Warlords Abdul Rashid Dostam and Mohammed Mohaqeq had 8.1 percent and 5.5 percent respectively.
With a clear lead in 22 out of the 34 provinces, Karzai looks set to win with over 50 percent of the vote and avoid a run-off election which analysts said would dilute his authority in forming the next government.
"There are votes for him across the country and in the cities and it is also overwhelming in the south and the voting has generally been along ethnic lines," said a western observer.
Karzai, an ethnic Pashtun, has won over 90 percent of the votes in the southern city of Kandahar and eastern Nangahar province, but has also won a majority in western Herat and the capital Kabul -- the most populous provinces in the country.
Karzai will likely win a clean sweep of the votes among the country's Pashtun majority in the south and east, while his rivals have much smaller constituencies in northern Afghanistan and almost no appeal to Pashtun voters.
Pashtuns account for some 40 percent of the population, followed by Tajiks at around 25 percent. Shiite Hazaras make up roughly 12 percent and Uzbeks around 10 percent. Voting patterns have reflected ethnic divisions.
Qanooni, an ethnic Tajik and former stalwart of late resistance hero Ahmad Shah Masood, has a lead in six northern and northeastern province. Dostam, an ethnic Uzbek, is leading in four provinces and Hazara military strongman Mohaqeq in two.
Millions turned out to vote on October 9 and Taliban-led militants mounted few major attacks on the day. But the insurgency rumbles on in the troubled south and southeast.
Militants fired half a dozen rockets over US-led military outposts in the southeast early Tuesday in the latest in a string of post-election attacks.
In the worst incident this week five people travelling in an electoral commission jeep were killed when it hit an explosive device in southeastern Paktika province.
Among those killed was the main doctor for the small village of Yahyakhel. One person has been detained for the attack, the US military said.
In all, 19 people have been killed in attacks since election day including two US soldiers and three children.
The fundamentalist Taliban were ousted by a US-led military operation in late 2001 after they failed to surrender Al-Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden.