President Karzai: "Fraud has to be investigated... fairly and without prejudice"
Afghan President Hamid Karzai says he believes in the integrity of last month's election process despite allegations of vote-rigging.
He denied there had been major fraud and said he was "shocked" by EU observers' claims that a quarter of votes could be fraudulent.
Mr Karzai said a probe into the claims should be "fair and without prejudice".
Soon after he spoke, a bomb attack on a military convoy in Kabul left 16 people dead, six of them Italian soldiers.
At least 40 others were injured in the blast against two vehicles of the Nato-led international force in the Afghan capital's diplomatic quarter.
'Seeking respect'
"I believe firmly, firmly in the integrity of the election and the integrity of the Afghan people, and the integrity of the government in that process," Mr Karzai told a news conference, his first in almost a month.
ANALYSIS
Martin Patience, BBC News, Kabul
What was most significant about this press conference was what President Karzai did not say - and that was declare outright victory.
Ahead in the unofficial poll, President Karzai has faced a ferocious barrage of fraud allegations from his nearest rival Dr Abdullah.
Mr Karzai has been under pressure from the international community to allow the investigation into fraud claims to run its course - a process that could take weeks.
But the recount of votes at 10% of the country's polling station could have a massive impact on the outcome of this election.
If the incumbent's support drops below an outright majority, he will have to face a run-off.
Despite this, the Afghan leader's campaign team are confident of victory - with one official saying only a "miracle" can stop President Karzai winning in the first round.
He accepted there were some government officials who were "partial" to his candidacy, and others who supported his chief rival, the former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah.
"That's something that we understand and we must accept for now until Afghanistan grows further into a more stable state structure, into a more bureaucratised civil service and into a more apolitical institutionalised civil and military service in the country," he said.
But he said any fraud during the 20 August election "wasn't that big".
"If there was fraud, it was small - it happens all over the world," he said.
He added that any allegations of fraud should be investigated "fairly and without prejudice".
Mr Karzai told reporters there had been overwhelmingly negative press coverage of the election, which was unfair on the Afghans who braved the violence to turn out and vote.
"Almost half of the country was under attack, hundreds of rockets came on election sites all over the country, but people even then came out and voted," he said.
"That's what I'm seeking, a respect for that day, a respect for the bravery of the Afghan people to come and vote."
Later, Mr Abdullah repeated his claims that there had been "massive" fraud in the vote.
"A golden opportunity for Afghanistan has turned into a disastrous situation," Mr Abdullah told reporters.
He added: "My position is not to get a post from the government but to bring change. That will remain my agenda. I am not interested in a coalition government."
'Massive fraud'
The results of the election have been coming out on a weekly basis as votes have been counted.
POLL FRAUD CLAIMS
15 Sep: ECC chief says 10% of votes need to be recounted
8 Sep: Poll complaints body orders some recounts nationwide
8 Sep: IEC says votes from 600 polling stations "quarantined"
3 Sep: Claims 30,000 fraudulent votes cast for Karzai in Kandahar
30 Aug: 2,000 fraud allegations are probed; 600 deemed serious
20 Aug: Election day and claims 80,000 ballots were filled out fraudulently for Karzai in Ghazni
18 Aug: Ballot cards sold openly and voter bribes offered
The final preliminary result giving Mr Karzai 54.6% of the vote and Mr Abdullah 27.8% was announced on Wednesday, although it has not yet been made official.
If the result stands, Mr Karzai will not have to face a run-off because he took more than 50% of the vote.
But EU observers said on Wednesday that about 1.5m votes of the 5.6m cast showed indications of fraud.
Dimitra Ioannou of the EU monitoring mission, said that, of the suspicious votes cast, 1.1m were for Mr Karzai and 300,000 for Abdullah Abdullah.
"Massive fraud was taking place at polling station level and when all these ballot boxes arrived at the tally centres, instead of being quarantined and investigated, they were accepted as good results," he said.
The Afghan Electoral Complaints Commission says it is recounting votes cast at 10% of all the polling stations.
One-Minute World News
E-mail this to a friend
Printable version
BBC News
Bookmark with:
What are these?