Afghanistan - Elections 2009

Abdullah boycott decision awaited

Article published on the 2009-10-31 Latest update 2009-10-31 16:58 TU

An Afghan boy stands under electoral posters with pictures of Hamid Karzai, who is a candidate for re-election on November 7, in Herat on Saturday
(Photo: Reuters)

Officials in the campaign team of Abdullah Abdullah, have said he will announce whether he will contest the 7 November poll by Sunday morning at the latest.

Abdullah is the sole opponent of incumbent Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan's second-round presidential vote.

"People are guessing whether he will angrily boycott this runoff election," says correspondent Jonathan Boone in Kabul.

 

Abdullah has demanded the sacking of the head of the Independent Electoral Commission and the suspension of four ministers who campaigned with Karzai. Failing this, Abdullah's team says, he will boycott the 7 November poll.

His team says they are giving the government until the end of Saturday for a response.

Karzai responded to Abdullah's demands earlier this week by saying that his opponent had no right to interfere in ministerial positions.

"The campaign offices (of Abdullah) have remained closed and that could be for lack of funds or it could be that they never really thought there was going to be a second round anyway", says Boone.

"If this was a free and fair second round, Dr Abdullah would actually have some sort of a chance so I think he knows that the real problem here is the futility of going into this contest when the machinery of the election is so heavily rigged against him," says Boone.

Abdullah took just over 30 per cent in the first round while Karzai took just under 50 per cent of the vote.