By Sayed Salahuddin and Jonathon Burch
KABUL (Reuters) - President Hamid Karzai's campaign and chief rival Abdullah Abdullah both claimed victory on Friday in Afghanistan's election, each camp saying preliminary results showed there would be no need for a second round run-off.
"Initial results show that the president has got a majority," Deen Mohammad told Reuters, although he said it was the duty of the election commission to announce the official results.
"We will not get to a second round. We have got a majority."
Abdullah, Karzai's former foreign minister, dismissed the Karzai camp's victory claim and said preliminary results showed he was on track to win in the first round.
"I'm ahead. Initial results from the provinces show that I have more than 50 percent of the vote," Abdullah told Reuters by telephone in Kabul.
Election officials said no confirmed results had been released. Mohammad said the Karzai campaign's estimate of victory was based on reports from nearly 29,000 monitors the campaign had at polling stations throughout the country.
Official preliminary results are not due for two weeks, but counting began immediately after polls closed on Thursday and is largely complete.
Polls conducted before the election showed Karzai in the lead but suggested he would not win more than 50 percent of the vote and faced a second round run-off against Abdullah in October.
PATIENCE URGED
The 6,200 polling stations are required to make their results available to the public as they tabulate them to prevent fraud.
Zekria Barakzai, deputy head of the Independent Election Commission (IEC) urged patience.
"We cannot confirm any claims by campaigning managers. It's the job of the election commission to declare the results. They should be patient," Barakzai said.
The United Nations mission in Kabul and the U.S. embassy both said no result was legitimate until endorsed by the IEC.
"We've seen the reports, but only the IEC is in a position to announce official results. Anything else is just speculation," said U.S. embassy spokeswoman Fleur Cowan.
An independent Afghan monitoring body, FEFA, said it was concerned about the quality of Thursday's elections after receiving reports from its observers across the country of fraud and interference.
KABUL (Reuters) - President Hamid Karzai's campaign and chief rival Abdullah Abdullah both claimed victory on Friday in Afghanistan's election, each camp saying preliminary results showed there would be no need for a second round run-off.
"Initial results show that the president has got a majority," Deen Mohammad told Reuters, although he said it was the duty of the election commission to announce the official results.
"We will not get to a second round. We have got a majority."
Abdullah, Karzai's former foreign minister, dismissed the Karzai camp's victory claim and said preliminary results showed he was on track to win in the first round.
"I'm ahead. Initial results from the provinces show that I have more than 50 percent of the vote," Abdullah told Reuters by telephone in Kabul.
Election officials said no confirmed results had been released. Mohammad said the Karzai campaign's estimate of victory was based on reports from nearly 29,000 monitors the campaign had at polling stations throughout the country.
Official preliminary results are not due for two weeks, but counting began immediately after polls closed on Thursday and is largely complete.
Polls conducted before the election showed Karzai in the lead but suggested he would not win more than 50 percent of the vote and faced a second round run-off against Abdullah in October.
PATIENCE URGED
The 6,200 polling stations are required to make their results available to the public as they tabulate them to prevent fraud.
Zekria Barakzai, deputy head of the Independent Election Commission (IEC) urged patience.
"We cannot confirm any claims by campaigning managers. It's the job of the election commission to declare the results. They should be patient," Barakzai said.
The United Nations mission in Kabul and the U.S. embassy both said no result was legitimate until endorsed by the IEC.
"We've seen the reports, but only the IEC is in a position to announce official results. Anything else is just speculation," said U.S. embassy spokeswoman Fleur Cowan.
An independent Afghan monitoring body, FEFA, said it was concerned about the quality of Thursday's elections after receiving reports from its observers across the country of fraud and interference.
Source: Reuters
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