Hamid Karzai, Afghan president, was on Tuesday heading nearer to an outright victory in elections marred by widespread fraud after electoral officials defied western pressure to withhold suspect results and stage a partial recount.

The Independent Election Commission released a fresh batch of preliminary results handing Mr Karzai 54.1 per cent of the vote, with ballots from 91 per cent of polling stations counted. If it holds, such a result would give him the simple majority he needs to avoid a run-off with his main rival, Abdullah Abdullah, who had 28.3 per cent.