KABUL (PAN): President Hamid Karzai maintained lead over his closest rival Dr. Abdullah Abdullah in the landmark polls held on August 20, an official of the Independent Election Commission (IEC) said here on Wednesday.

Of the 17 percent (9,98,484) ballots tallied so far, the incumbent president has collected 422,127, followed by his former foreign minister with 330,711. Another popular politician, Ramazan Bashardost is in the third slot with 108,158 votes.

The IEC secretary told a news conference in Kabul ex-finance minister Dr. Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai secured 27,627 votes to finish fourth in the presidential election -- the second in Afghanistan's history.

According to figures released by Daud Ali Najafi, 38,160 votes are invalid and the rest have gone to other contenders. In all, 41 hopefuls were in the run for the presidency but a dozen of them retired in favour of other candidates.

The final outcome would be unveiled in mid-September. With 17 percent of votes counted, Karzai holds a lead of 43 percent to 34 percent over the former foreign minister. To avoid a run-off, a candidate must bag more than 50 percent of the ballots cast.

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