Election organisers in Afghanistan have published a preliminary list of presidential candidates two days early. Zakim Shah, the chairman of the joint electoral management body, said 23 people had met the Monday deadline to register for the October poll. There were no surprises as he read out the names one by one - most on the list had already announced they were standing, the majority as independents. Interim President Hamid Karzai has confirmed he will be running. Only two other candidates are considered big names nationwide - the Uzbek general, Abdul Rashid Dostum, and Yunus Qanuni, the former education minister. Mr Qanuni, who announced he was running on Monday, is currently seen as the most serious challenger to Mr Karzai. It is still not clear why the election body decided to announce the list two days earlier than planned. An official said they wanted to allow as much time as possible for any objections to be raised to the list of candidates. But people have just three days to make such objections with written proof. (BBC)