Afghan interim President Hamid Karzai has been keeping on leading the ballot counting as he garnered 62.6 percent of the votes counted till Wednesday noon, Afghan election website said.

"Out of 3,144,423 votes counted till this noon, Hamid Karzai has received 62.6 percent or 1,944,216 votes,"said the site whilereleasing the latest update on the ballot counting.

Karzai's major rival Mohammad Yunus Qanooni is far behind as he secured 16.7 percent of the votes counted so far. The two were trailed by Abdul Rashid Dostum who won 7.6 percent and Mohammad Mohqiq 6.7 percent of the votes.

A majority of Karzai's 15 contenders have failed to win more than one percent of the votes cast by some 8 million voters in thecountry's first direct presidential election on Oct. 9.

Final results of the marathon vote counting are not likely to be made public before the end of this month.

Source: Xinhua