A UN-backed complaints commissions says it has found "convincing evidence" of fraud in Afghanistan's presidential election and has ordered a recount in three provinces, which may mean a final result is still months away.
Meanwhile, Afghan officials released results that would give President Hamid Karzai 54 per cent of the vote with most ballots tallied -- enough to win the election.
The results -- one from the Western-backed complaints commission and the other from the election commission, which is filled with Karzai appointees -- could provide the ammunition for a diplomatic showdown over the election results.
Allegations of ballot-box stuffing and other types of fraud have been growing louder every day since the Aug. 20 vote.
The timing of the election fiasco could not be worse for NATO, as the image of a fraudulent Afghan president weakens already tenuous support from the Western public.
"The perception of fraud will shorten the length of time that one can expect foreign support," Ronald E. Neumann, a former U.S. ambassador to Afghanistan, told The Associated Press. "People will just get disgusted. They'll say, 'Why do I sacrifice my son for a leadership that cannot rally the country fairly?"'
August was the deadliest month yet for Western forces in Afghanistan, even as U.S. President Barack Obama continued to send more troops to the country.
The latest results
New results released on Tuesday gave Karzai more than 50 per cent of the electorate for the first time, which would elimate the need for a run-off vote. With 92 per cent of the votes in - about 5.7 million votes - it's unlikely Abdullah Abdullah, the main presidential contender, could catch up.
Abdullah has called the election a "tragic joke."
Western officials have said as many as 1,000,000 votes could be fake.
If the Afghan election commission announces that Karzai has won, the UN-backed commission will begin its fraud investigation.
Some 3,000 fraud complaints have been filed. A UN official says a full recount could take two to three months.
With a report from CTV's Lisa Laflamme
