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Afghan president hopeful Abdullah Abdullah cries foul Afghan president hopeful Abdullah Abdullah cries foul
(35 minutes later)
Afghan presidential election candidate Abdullah Abdullah has demanded an immediate halt to vote-counting over allegations of widespread fraud.Afghan presidential election candidate Abdullah Abdullah has demanded an immediate halt to vote-counting over allegations of widespread fraud.
Dr Abdullah said ballot boxes had been stuffed to the benefit of his rival Ashraf Ghani and he had lost trust in the electoral authorities. Ballot boxes had been stuffed and the whole system was working to benefit his rival Ashraf Ghani, Dr Abdullah said.
"We have asked our monitors to leave their offices," he said. He said he had lost trust in the electoral authorities, adding: "We have asked our monitors to leave their offices."
A run-off vote to choose who replaces Hamid Karzai was held on Saturday. Final results are due in July. A run-off vote to choose who replaces Hamid Karzai was held on Saturday.
Final results are due in July.
Dr Abdullah won most votes in the first round in April, but did not secure an outright majority.Dr Abdullah won most votes in the first round in April, but did not secure an outright majority.
Mr Karzai, who has served two terms as Afghanistan's first and only president since the Taliban were ousted from power in 2001, is obliged by law to stand down after the latest election, which would be the country's first peaceful transfer of power. There was no immediate comment from Mr Ghani, a former World Bank economist.
He is expected to hand power to his successor in August. Mr Karzai, who has served two terms as Afghanistan's first and only president since the Taliban were ousted in 2001, is obliged by law to stand down after the latest election, which would be the country's first peaceful transfer of power.
He is expected to hand over to his successor in August.
Dr Abdullah said important concerns he had raised over the election had been ignored.
He complained that there had been no clarification over what he had called inflated turnout figures - and no explanation for the sacking of several thousand election workers after the first round.
Dr Abdullah added that he had also demanded that a senior member of the Independent Election Commission should be suspended, but this had not happened.
"The counting process should stop immediately and if that continues, it will have no legitimacy," Dr Abdullah told reporters.
Ballot boxes have yet to reach Kabul for votes to be counted but the former foreign minister said preliminary evidence gathered by his team showed widespread fraud.
According to initial reports received by his staff, Mr Ghani is leading by nearly a million votes after Saturday's run-off, Reuters news agency reported.
Dr Abdullah pulled out of Afghanistan's 2009 presidential election which was also marred by claims of mass fraud.
UN and US officials have been urging both contenders in this year's race to give officials time to count votes and look into possible malpractice.
Dr Abdullah's demands raise the prospect of a political crisis at a crucial time for Afghanistan. Nato-led combat troops who have been battling the Taliban are due to leave by the end of the year and a major security deal with the US remains unsigned.