Abdullah to call poll boycott if terms not met: sources
Opposition candidate Abdullah Abdullah will call a boycott of Afghanistan’s run-off presidential poll if a series of demands are not met by the end of Saturday, officials in his campaign team said.
“If our conditions are not met today, Dr Abdullah will announce his decision in a conference tomorrow (Sunday),” a senior official in his campaign team told AFP on condition of anonymity.
“We will not participate in an election which is not transparent and fraud-free,” he added.
Another source in his campaign team said Abdullah would make his announcement at an address in Kabul at 0500 GMT on Sunday which the media have been invited to attend.
Following widespread fraud in the first round in August, Abdullah has demanded President Hamid Karzai sack the head of the Independent Electoral Commission and suspend four ministers who have campaigned for the incumbent.
Karzai, who fell fractionally short of an outright majority in the first round, has so far flatly rejected the demands.
Asked what the former foreign minister’s stance would be if his conditions are not met, a pro-Abdullah lawmaker who has been involved in his campaign said that the candidate would not participate in the 7th November run-off.
