The head monitor sent by Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan’s president, to oversee a partial recount of the country’s disputed elections said on Tuesday he was concerned about potential flaws in the process.

Arsala Jamal’s comments raise the prospect that a UN-backed audit designed to restore credibility to the August 20 polls following reports of massive rigging may be contested by supporters of Mr Karzai, who has most to lose from its findings.