Karzai leads amid fraud claims
 |  Qanooni says an investigation of fraud allegations could yet make him the first popularly elected president. |
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 The winner of the Afghan election will face enormous challenges.
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KABUL, Afghanistan -- Afghan President Hamid Karzai continues to hold a strong lead in the nation's landmark elections amid accusations of voter fraud from a key rival.
At a news conference on Tuesday, Eudcation Minister Yunis Qanooni said there was evidence of ballot boxes being filled with Karzai votes in at least four provinces: Ghazni, Herat, Zabul and Kunduz.
He says his representatives were threatened when they went to check on suspected ballot-box stuffing in Zabul province, according to a report by The Associated Press.
Qanooni said he had filed more than 30 written complaints to the U.N.-Afghan electoral commission.
With 20.9 percent of the vote counted since the October 9 poll, Karzai is leading with 61.3 percent.
Qanooni is running second with 18.8 percent, and warlord Abdul Rashid Doston is third with 8.3 percent.
"If his excellency Mr. Karzai, my old friend, succeeds in a fair and transparent election, I will congratulate him and cooperate with him," Qanooni told reporters.
"But if the result is fraudulent, the legitimacy of this election will be in question."
Overshadowing the counting has been the ongoing violence from terrorist attacks.
Five people -- including at least one election worker -- were killed by an explosion as they drove near the Pakistan border Monday.
At the weekend six others -- three children, and Afghan policeman and two U.S. soldiers -- died in two terrorist incidents.
Few independent observers believe that Qanooni, a member of the ethnic Tajik minority, could command a country deeply fractured by years of tribal and ethnic warfare.
Karzai enjoys strong support among Afghanistan's traditional rulers, the Pashtuns, and is seen as a bridge to its international backers and a leader untainted by its bloody past.
Final results are expected at the end of October, although it should be clear who has won within days -- and whether the victor secures the majority needed to avoid a run-off.
The election was marred by controversy.
Opposition candidates made accusations of fraud and vowed not to respect the voting results after it was found that ink used to mark the thumbs of voters to keep people from voting twice could be washed away.
Three of the candidates -- including Qanooni -- backed off an earlier boycott, and a review board investigating the complaints decided that nullifying the count in spite of voting irregularities would be unjustified.
Despite intimidation by ousted Taliban insurgents and bad weather, election officials say about 8 million of the 10.5 million registered voters cast ballots.
About 1,000 people, many of them insurgents, have died in political violence so far this year.
The United Nations-backed election, which cost about $200 million to stage, has generated huge interest.
Karzai has led the predominantly Muslim country since the U.S.-led forces ousted the Taliban regime in late 2001.
But Afghans are impatient for him to deliver on pledges to rebuild their impoverished country.
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Associated Press contributed to this report.
