Afghan presidential challenger Abdullah Abdullah plans to boycott next week’s runoff against incumbent Hamid Karzai following a breakdown in talks on how to fix the country’s electoral crisis, two people familiar with the discussions said.
A boycott would severely undermine a vote intended to affirm the Afghan government’s credibility. However, an Abdullah spokesman said no final decision had been made on the candidate’s pullout, and that Abdullah will announce his decision Sunday morning. It was possible that word of the boycott was a negotiating tactic by the Abdullah camp.
Recommended Stories
The political stalemate in Kabul comes as President Barack Obama has been meeting with his advisers to try to determine U.S. strategy in Afghanistan, including troop levels. A weakened Afghan government will make it harder for Obama to get public support for his efforts.
October has been the deadliest month for U.S. forces since the 2001 invasion to oust the Taliban. The Afghan war has intensified this year as militants have stepped up attacks and more troops have arrived trying to stabilize the country.
Abdullah, who was once Karzai’s foreign minister, put forward several conditions this week to avoid a repeat of the massive fraud of the August presidential election, including the replacement of the top election official and the suspension of several ministers.
He set Saturday as the deadline for his demands to be met.
A Westerner close to talks between the two sides said their agenda also included a power-sharing proposal by the challenger and cited both Karzai and Abdullah as saying that talks broke down Friday, prompting Abdullah to decide on a boycott of the Nov. 7 runoff.
An Afghan figure close to Abdullah said Saturday that the boycott decision came after a contentious and fruitless meeting Thursday over Abdullah’s conditions for a runoff.
Both spoke on condition of anonymity, saying that the announcement must come from Abdullah himself.
The Afghan said a boycott was certain, and that Abdullah would likely tell his supporters to simply stay home during the vote.
Afghan electoral law says that any vote cast for a candidate who withdraws will not be counted. However, neither electoral nor the constitution specifically address the issue of a candidate who does not formally withdraw but urges supporters to boycott the polls.
A spokesman for the Afghan election commission said that it is too late for Abdullah to officially withdraw and that a boycott will not prevent the runoff from going forward.
“The election will be held and all procedures will go as normal,” Noor Mohammad Noor said.
