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Karzai 'heading for election win' Karzai 'heading for election win'
(30 minutes later)
Afghan President Hamid Karzai's campaign chief says he has won enough votes to secure a majority without the need for a second round run-off.Afghan President Hamid Karzai's campaign chief says he has won enough votes to secure a majority without the need for a second round run-off.
Deen Mohammad told Reuters news agency: "Initial results show that the president has got a majority. We will not go to a second round."Deen Mohammad told Reuters news agency: "Initial results show that the president has got a majority. We will not go to a second round."
One election official said the official results would be announced next week. But a spokesman for Mr Karzai's chief rival, Abdullah Abdullah, has also claimed victory.
Millions of Afghans defied threats from the Taliban to turn out and vote in Thursday's presidential election. Millions of Afghans defied Taliban threats to vote in Thursday's election.
Although there were some attacks by insurgents, the UN said the vast majority of polling stations were able to function. Official results had not been expected for a couple of weeks, but the Afghan Election Commission confirmed on Friday that ballot counting was over for the presidential election in all parts of the country.
The election has been hailed a success by both Mr Karzai and his Western allies. One election commission official, Zekria Barakzai, told the AFP news agency that he expected the official results to be announced next week.
Afghan election commission official Zekria Barakzai told the AFP news agency that ballot counting was over and he expected the official results to be announced next week.
"The turnout was different from south to the north and central parts of Afghanistan but still it is satisfactory and I expect that turnout will be from 40 to 50%," he said."The turnout was different from south to the north and central parts of Afghanistan but still it is satisfactory and I expect that turnout will be from 40 to 50%," he said.
Deen Mohammad told Reuters that his claim of a Karzai victory was based on reports from nearly 29,000 monitors his campaign team had at polling stations across the country.
But Abdullah Abdullah's spokesman Fazl Sangcharaki denied Mr Mohammad's claims.
"It isn't true," he said. "We also say, 'May be we don't need a second round and Abdullah won'."