Incumbent Afghan President Hamid Karzai's bid for re-election is improving, as newly released election results show his lead increasing over rival candidate Abdullah Abdullah.
The country's Independent Election Commission released further results Wednesday showing Karzai taking 44.8 per cent of the ballots counted so far, compared to 35.1 per cent for Abdullah, the country's former foreign minister.
But only 17 per cent of the ballots have been counted as of Wednesday.
The commission began releasing initial results on Tuesday, and is expected to continue to do so in the coming days. Final results will not be ready until mid-September at the earliest.
If no candidate captures 50 per cent of the overall ballots cast by Afghan voters, a runoff election will take place.
One prominent Canadian election observer says that while the still-developing results have given citizens a deserved say in their country's future, they are far from being the fruit of a "free and fair" election process.
Former Liberal deputy prime minister John Manley was in Afghanistan watching the elections as they occurred last week, as part of a delegation from the Washington-based National Democratic Institute.
He said that while the Afghan election saw some victories -- a vigorous election campaign and a variety of candidates running for office among them -- they are still in their infancy and cannot be expected to uphold the same standard as those in experienced democracies.
"I think free and fair is a standard that might be a bit high for Afghans to reach in this election," he told CTV's Canada AM during an interview from Toronto.
Manley said the country's Electoral Complaints Commission will have to strive for credible results, by rooting out as much of the suspected voting fraud as possible.
The cases of suspected fraud are the reasons why the final results from the election will not be known until next month.
The Electoral Complaints Commission has received more than 1,400 complaints about the election. More than 150 of these complaints, if true, could affect the vote's outcome, said spokesperson Nellika Little.
Abdullah has accused Karzai of rigging the election, through ballot stuffing and intimidation, claims that the incumbent president's camp has denied.
With Abdullah carrying much more support in the country's Tajik regions in the north, and Karzai's strength coming out of the Pashtun south, the eventual victor may largely be decided along ethnic voting lines.
None of the ballots counted so far have come from Helmand and only a few have come from Kandahar, both areas where Karzai has strong support, meaning his lead could increase in the days to come.
But Manley said both candidates worked to extend their support beyond their existing base, and whomever wins the election will be taking office at a crucial point in history.
"This is a very important point in the modern history of Afghanistan and the course that that country goes on will be, in large measure, determined by how the population, how the political actors respond to this election," Manley said.
With files from The Associated Press
