Karzai in slender lead with 10 percent of Afghan vote counted

Afghan President Hamid Karzai listens during a news conference on election day in Kabul August 20, 2009.

KABUL (Reuters) - Afghan President Hamid Karzai held a slender lead over challenger Abdullah Abdullah on Tuesday with around 10 percent of the votes from last week's election officially tallied, the country's election commission said.

Chief Electoral officer Daoud Ali Najafi told a news briefing that a running tally had Karzai with 41 percent of the vote compared with Abdullah's 39 percent. Karzai needs a simple majority of more than 50 percent to avoid a second round run-off.

(For more Reuters coverage of Afghanistan and Pakistan, see: here)