Afghan incumbent President Hamid Karzai was clearly in the lead Friday after the first counting of ballots in the country's first-ever direct presidential election, officials said. Electoral officials reported Karzai was in first place with 20,213 votes, or 56.2 per cent. So far, just 0.4 per cent of the total ballots have been counted. In second place among the 18 candidates, with 17.2 per cent of the vote, was former education minister Yonus Qanooni, a 43-year-old Tajik. In third was Uzbek general and warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum, who garnered 15 per cent. The electoral commission ordered the tallying of votes on Thursday after a five-day delay after Saturday's election due to claims of fraud and irregularities by various candidates.
