Afghanistan's election commission was ordered Monday to carry out a recount of ballots from roughly 10 per cent of the country's polling stations.
The order came from a UN-backed monitoring body that observed the presidential election last month and determined that there were suspicious totals from many of the polls.
President Hamid Karzai has been leading in the election, earlier this month achieving more than 50 per cent of the vote over his main opponent Abdullah Abdullah.
Under Afghan election laws, there is no runoff election after a candidate has passed the 50 per cent mark.
But the recount order once again raises the possibility that a runoff vote could be held -- if the new results bring Karzai's total below the threshold.
According to the head of the Electoral Complaints Commission, the group that ordered the recount, there were questionable results at more than 2,500 polling stations. A recount will be necessary at those polls, said Grant Kippen, head of the body.
The election has been rocked by allegations of fraud, with a number of polling stations returning results of more than 100 per cent of the eligible voters in the area. Ballot stuffing and the use of fake ballots are among the list of alleged fraudulent activities.
Results from 83 polling stations have been thrown out by the ECC due to fraud allegations.
According to the latest partial count, Karzai was sitting comfortable with 54 per cent of the vote compared to Abdullah's 28 per cent.
So far 93 per cent of the polling stations have been tallied. Five per cent remain and 2 per cent have been quarantined due to suspected fraud.
Final results had been expected this week, but that is now unlikely.
If the recount and the elimination of tainted ballots shows Karzai's total to fall below 50 per cent of the vote, a runoff election will be held between him and Abdullah.
Abdullah is Afghanistan's former foreign minister.
With files from The Associated Press
