Afghanistan interim leader Hamid Karzai is likely to emerge as the country's first popularly chosen president as the first official results of the vote tally, that is still underway, gave early encouragement to the US backed leader.

Firm results of the 9^th October election, which had a turn out of about 75 per cent, are not expected for at least a week, and the final tally is not due until the end of the month.

The first official results, posted on late Thursday, on the election Web site notified that of 25,671 valid votes tallied in five provinces so far, Karzai won 15,098, or 59 per cent of the total.

Former education minister Yunus Qanooni, who is expected to be Karzai's closest challenger, was running at 17 per cent, ahead of ethnic Uzbek warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum on 13 per cent.

Counting started yesterday in the capital, Kabul, the northern towns of Kunduz and Mazar-e-Sharif, Gardez in the east, and the main southern city of Kandahar.

The remaining three counting centers were expected to begin work by Saturday.

Officials had stalled the count while a panel of foreign experts sifted through several dozen complaints from the 16 candidates about alleged irregularities on polling day.

Five days after the vote, officials said almost all the ballot boxes had reached the eight counting centers.