Kabul - The official campaigns for Afghanistan's 41 presidential candidates began Tuesday, as hundreds of people hung and glued colourful posters on trees, walls, and electricity poles in the capital Kabul.

"Karzai, the symbol of national unity," reads a large poster of President Hamid Karzai, promoting the incumbent.

Karzai's competitors also started their campaign, with posters of former finance minister Ashraf Ghani, who is promising "a clean and accountable government" going up all around the city, as are ones for Dr Abdullah Abdullah, a former foreign minister, who is asking people to vote for a change.

Ghani and Abdullah are widely seen as serious contenders that could unseat President Karzai, who has ruled the country since after the ouster of the Taliban regime in late 2001.

"As per the election time-table, today we announce the beginning of the election campaign period," Ali Najafi, of the Afghan Independent Election Commission said.

The campaigns will last until August 18, two days before the polling date, Najafi said.

The August 20 election which is a big test for the consolidating of country's fragile democracy has also attracted more candidates than in 2004, where Karzai won by securing around 55 per cent of vote among the 17 other candidates.

The number of well-educated technocrat candidates has also increased compared with a large number of former warlords leaders of factional parties that dominated the earlier elections.

Two women candidates, two members of the country's lower house of parliament and a former member of the Taliban regime are among the 41 candidates struggling to win the top post.

While the Afghan Interior Ministry was to provide 20 policemen to protect each of the candidates during the campaign period, many already voiced concerns that insecurity in several districts in southern and eastern regions would not allow them to reach out to people in rural areas.

Despite losing popularity at home and in abroad, Karzai, who is accused of leading one of the most corrupted and ineffective governments in the word, is expected by many observers to win the elections.

In recent weeks, Karzai, who is coming from country's largest ethnic community, the Pushtuns, consolidated support from all major ethnic groups. He named Marshal Mohammad Qasim Fahim, the former commander of the Northern Alliance, as one of his two running mates. Fahim is expected to deliver votes from his fellow Tajiks, the second-largest ethnic group.

The main leaders of Hazara and Uzbek communities have also publicly backed Karzai, after they claimed that the incumbent promised ministerial posts to these ethnic groups if he won the elections.

Several national and international analysts have said that Karzai would lead the country for another five years, unless main candidates form a coalition to collectively stand against him.(dpa)