The newspaper said Afghan election officials have drawn up contingency plans to deal with protests similar to those held in Tehran after Iran's disputed presidential elections in June.

The Afghan election watchdog has received more than 1,500 complaints, including more than 100 from the Abdullah campaign.

More than 160 have been judged 'high priority', including allegations of ballot box tampering and ghost polling stations which could prove 'material to the outcome'.

A Western diplomat told the paper, 'Abdullah is enough of a diplomat that he knows he cannot threaten protests while the count is under way, even if in political discussions he lets it be known that such developments would be difficult to stop.'

Final results are not due until Sep 17. If a candidate does not win more than 50 percent of the vote, the election will enter a second round run off, with the results expected in mid-October at the earliest.