Abdullah 'to boycott Afghan vote'

Abdullah Abdullah, President Hamid Karzai's main rival in the second round of Afghanistan's presidential election, is reportedly set to abandon the poll.

A senior adviser to Mr Abdullah told the BBC he was being forced to withdraw because of concerns that the vote would be as fraudulent as the first round.

He has called for the dismissal of the head of the Afghan Independent Election Commission, a demand Mr Karzai rejects.

Hundreds of thousands of votes were discounted from August's first round.

The UN-backed Electoral Complaints Commission's (ECC) action meant Mr Karzai's total was reduced to below the 50% plus one vote threshold for outright victory, indicating a run-off poll was needed.

'Nothing has changed'

The BBC's Andrew North in Kabul says rumours have begun to circulate in the capital that President Karzai's only opponent in the second round election scheduled for 7 November may pull out.


The fact is that the infrastructure of this fraud is still there
Ahmed Wali Massoud
Senior Adviser to Abdullah Abdullah

It is not confirmed, but Saturday is the deadline that Mr Abdullah has set for a series of "minimum conditions" for holding a relatively fair and free contest to be accepted, our correspondent says.

These include the closure of many polling stations, and the sacking of the head of the country's Independent Election Commission (IEC), Azizullah Lodin, within five days, he adds.

On Monday, the former foreign minister said Mr Lodin had "no credibility". Mr Lodin denies allegations that he favoured Mr Karzai.

One of Mr Abdullah's senior advisers, Ahmed Wali Massoud, said was unhappy that nothing had been done to redress the electoral system's problems.


KARZAI V ABDULLAH
Hamid Karzai:
First popularly elected president of Afghanistan
Opposed Soviet occupation in 1980s
Critics say he has done little to rein in corruption
Abdullah Abdullah:
Tajik-Pashtun, doctor by profession
Senior Northern Alliance leader during Taliban rule
Removed from Karzai's cabinet in 2006

Profile: Hamid Karzai
Profile: Abdullah Abdullah

"The fact is that the infrastructure of this fraud is still there. Almost 1.5 million votes were rigged. Nothing has changed," he told the BBC.

"So if you go back and do the second round election, it means that it will happen again. So, therefore, I don't think that we would be willing to participate."

An announcement might come as early as Saturday but was more likely on Sunday, people close to Mr Abdullah told the Associated Press.

Earlier, the Independent Election Commission announced that it planned to open 6,322 polling stations for the run-off - more than it did during the first round.

The Electoral Complaints Commission had recommended cutting the number from 6,000 to about 5,800 - to make sure there would be enough monitors to limit fraud and troops to ensure security.