Amidst deteriorating security and increasing clashes between antigovernment forces and foreign troops, presidential elections were held in Afghanistan on 20 August, the second since the fall of the Taliban regime. According to preliminary results released on 28 August and based on the scrutiny of 35% of the votes, Hamid Karzai has obtained 46.2 % in the first round, albeit with widespread accusations of fraud and irregularities and a lower turn-out, a product of increased disillusion among the population and a campaign of voter intimidation by the Taliban. If definitive results will confirm that he has not won more than 50% of the vote, and the election will enter a second round run off at the beginning of October.