Afghan presidential contender threatens boycott

Kabul - An adviser to a leading Afghan presidential contender, Abdullah Abdullah, says the candidate is threatening to boycott the country's ballot audit, which has been mired in obstacles.

The complicated, UN-supervised audit of the 8 million votes from the June presidential run-off has been under way in Kabul for weeks.

The process followed allegations of vote fraud on both sides and is meant to decide whether Abdullah, a former foreign minister, or former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai will replace President Hamid Karzai.

Fazel Ahmad Manawi told reporters on Tuesday that if Abdullah's concerns are not addressed by Wednesday morning, he would pull out of the audit.

Manawi said the election commission ignored their complaints about fraudulent ballots.

If the recount is halted, it would create another major political stalemate for Afghanistan.