Kabul, Sep 17 (DPA) President Hamid Karzai called for prudence Thursday, a day after preliminary official results gave him an outright win in the first round of a presidential election that was plagued by charges of vote rigging.

Despite the problems that have arisen, the voting was a success, Karzai said at a press conference, adding that the victor could only be declared when Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission and the UN-backed Election Complaints Commission release the final results.

According to the Afghan commission, Karzai won 54.6 percent of the vote in the Aug 20 poll, double the 27.8 percent of his nearest rival, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah.

The results were released Wednesday shortly after EU election monitors said up to 1.