Afghanistan's UN-backed election watchdog has reportedly found that Hamid Karzai did not gain enough valid votes for an outright win, a finding which seems certain to trigger a run-off election between Mr Karzai and his closest challenger.
Preliminary results from August's first round had placed Mr Karzai comfortably over the 50 per cent threshold he needed to avoid a runoff election but under the rules of the election, Mr Karzai now faces a runoff against rival, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah.
The election, tainted by allegations of widespread fraud, has fanned tension between Mr Karzai and Western governments whose troops are fighting a resurgent Taliban in Afghanistan in a war that has entered its ninth year.
The protracted process has complicated US President Barack Obama's deliberations on whether to send thousands more troops that his top military commander in Afghanistan says he needs.
In the first public criticism of the investigation coming from Mr Karzai's side, a senior member of his election team said the ECC procedure was wrong.
"The campaign office of Hamid Karzai criticises the formula (used by ECC) for dealing with suspect votes," Mohammad Moin Marastyal, a senior member of Mr Karzai's team and a member of parliament, said of the investigation.
"This (procedure) is not correct and this has brought down Karzai's tally. ... Effort has been made to lower Mr Karzai's vote to below 50 (per cent). Now we are in a deadlock."
Mr Karzai has long warned against a second round and has hinted the ECC's fraud investigation could have involved foreign meddling. Mr Abdullah has said he would accept the ECC decision if all fraud had been properly investigated.
Officials and diplomats have said the ECC's findings were expected to cut Mr Karzai's tally to below 50 per cent.
Reuters