www.telegraph.co.uk
Early figures from campaign team observers suggest Mr Karzai won 72 per cent of the vote with his closest rival Abdullah Abdullah gaining 23 per cent.
A further 2 million votes from southern Afghanistan have yet to be tallied, but they are in areas where Mr Karzai was predicted to have a strong showing.
The figures were obtained by the The Daily Telegraph from a campaign team which had observers at polling stations. An analyst confirmed: "That's in line with what we are hearing."
If confirmed, the scale of the win will provoke accusations of vote-rigging and electoral officials said yesterday they were already investigating dozens of complaints of fraud on a scale profound enough to sway the result.
The first provisional results are not expected until Tuesday, with final results following weeks later after complaint rulings. Early figures could change as suspect ballot boxes or polling stations are disallowed.
Mr Karzai had needed more than 50 per cent of the vote to avoid a second round run off against his former foreign minister.
One analyst said the scale of the apparent landslide raised the possibility Mr Karzai had legitimately swung large numbers of voters in the north after deals with strongmen including the militia leader General Abdul Rashid Dostum.
However it will be hotly contested after the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) said it had received 225 complaints since polls opened on Thursday for the presidential and provincial council elections.
Grant Kippen, head of the commission, said some allegations were of irregularities on a scale large enough to alter the outcome of the poll.
He said: "Thirty five have been assigned a high priority and these are ones that we had to deem to be material to the outcome of the election results."
He said the most common complaint among the high priority cases was ballot box tampering and the number was still rising as reports arrived from remote areas.
Mr Karzai and Dr Abdullah both said they were headed for an outright victory the day after polling.
Afghan electoral officials called on candidates and the media not to report on estimated results.
Dr Abdullah, the former foreign minister, said his campaign team had received alarming reports of irregularity.
He said: "There might have been thousands of violations throughout the country, no doubt about it.".
His allegations were dismissed by a spokesman for the Karzai campaign, who said it had also filed complaints about Dr Abdullah's supporters' activities.
Waheed Omer said unsuccessful campaigns would file complaints to "try to justify their loss".
The Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan said on Saturday that it had recorded instances of multiple voting and underage voting.
But international observer missions including the European Union and International Republican Institute, said despite reports of irregularities, the vote had been "credible" and "generally fair".
Richard Holbrooke, United States envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, said complaints of vote rigging were to be expected.
He said: "We have disputed elections in the United States. There may be some questions here.
"That wouldn't surprise me at all. I expect it. But let's not get out ahead of the situation."
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