New poll results Wednesday show President Hamid Karzai, the frontrunner in the Afghanistan election, remains short of the 50 percent threshold that would allow him to avoid a two-man runoff despite extending his lead over the top challenger.

Final certified results will not be ready until at least mid-September, after fraud complaints have been investigated.

Top challenger Abdullah Abdullah has accused Karzai of widespread cheating, including ballot stuffing and voter intimidation; Karzai’s camp has denied the accusations. Low voter turnout and the fraud allegations have cast a pall over the vote, seen as critical to efforts to stabilize the country, which is beset by Taliban insurgents and doubts over its fragile democracy.

Based on returns from 17 percent of polling stations nationwide, Karzai has 44.8 percent of the votes while Abdullah, a former foreign minister, has 35.1 percent.

The voter turnout was low because of apathy and fear of insurgent attacks. This summer has been Afghanistan’s most violent since the 2001 US invasion. President Barack Obama ordered an additional 21,000 troops to the country this year, in part to help secure the elections. But violence has continued to rise.

(via The Washington Post)