Afghanistan's election commission released new results from last month's presidential vote on Saturday, but refrained from making the final tally known as a complaints commission continues to investigate hundreds of fraud allegations.
The new results maintain the current vote tally, which shows President Hamid Karzai in the lead with 54 per cent of the vote. Former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah trails with 28 per cent.
The winner must have 50 per cent of the vote in order to avoid a run-off.
With Saturday's results, the Independent Election Commission, which was appointed by Karzai, has now released results from 93 per cent of polling stations.
Five per cent of the votes have yet to be counted, while the rest have been quarantined on fraud concerns.
The commission had been expected to release full results Saturday, but vote counting has been slowed down by widespread fraud allegations.
It could be weeks before the results are certified as the UN-backed Electoral Complaints Commission investigates the allegations.
Despite Karzai's lead, the UN mission observing the election warns that there are "no winners" yet.
"Afghanistan's election commission still has to conduct a partial recount from suspect districts," said UN spokesperson Aleem Siddique. "The election commission is also required to annul returns from polling stations where there is clear evidence of irregularities, as ordered by the Electoral Complaints Commission. Only after these actions have been taken can any provisional results be finalized."
Not long after polling stations closed, Abdullah levelled charges of fraud against Karzai and his team.
Abdullah accused Karzai and his campaign workers of stuffing ballot boxes and handing in ballots from polling stations that may never have opened.
On Thursday, the complaints commission threw out thousands of ballots from 83 polling stations. It also ordered recounts in three provinces in which Karzai was expected to gain the majority of votes.
Last weekend, election officials threw out votes from more than 400 polling stations.
If enough votes are deemed invalid and Karzai falls below 50 per cent support, a run-off may yet be necessary.
On Friday, Abdullah's campaign team continued to push for a full investigation into the allegations of fraud.
"The nation has the right to know who got the most votes in every area," said Abdul Satar Murad, Abdullah's campaign chief in Kabul. If not, he said, "The nation and the people will lose their trust in the system."
The complaints commission, which is made up of one American, one Canadian, one Dutch representative and two Afghans, can order a new election in areas where it cannot declare a winner.
Daoud Ali Najafi, chief electoral officer of the country's election commission, said his group will meet with the complaints commission on Sunday. That may shed light on when the complaints commission expects to finish investigating fraud claims.
The vote counting could take up to three months, Najafi has said.
Richard Holbrooke, the U.S. special envoy to the region, has asked for patience in the presidential poll, saying that its legitimacy should be judged only after all investigations have concluded.
With files from The Associated Press
