Karzai rival withdraws from runoff

KABUL, Afghanistan | Former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah urged his followers not to protest in the streets as he pulled out of the presidential contest, handing a second five-year term to incumbent President Hamid Karzai.

Mr. Abdullah stopped short of calling for a boycott, and he urged his supporters “not to go to the streets, not to demonstrate.”

But with Mr. Karzai now the only candidate in a Nov. 7 runoff, it was not clear whether the second round of voting will even be held, especially given the risk of Taliban attacks on voters.

“It’s difficult to see how you can have a runoff with only one candidate,” U.N. spokesman Aleem Siddique said.

The war has intensified, October was the deadliest month of the eight-year war for U.S. forces, and President Obama is considering a request from his top commander for additional ground forces.

In an emotional speech, Mr. Abdullah told supporters that he could not accept a runoff led by the same Karzai-appointed election commission that managed the fraud-marred vote in August. The runoff was set for Nov. 7 after U.N.-backed auditors annulled nearly a third of Mr. Karzai’s votes as fakes.

“I will not participate in the November 7 election,” Mr. Abdullah said, because a “transparent election is not possible.”

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton congratulated Mr. Abdullah for a “dignified and constructive” campaign and said the United States “will support the next president and the people of Afghanistan, who seek and deserve a better future.”

Mr. Abdullah said people have the right to a “fair election.”

“But this election was a failure. It was not independent. It was not transparent,” he said.

Mr. Karzai’s campaign spokesman, Waheed Omar, said it was “very unfortunate” that Mr. Abdullah had withdrawn but insisted that the Saturday runoff should proceed as planned.

“We believe that the elections have to go on, the process has to complete itself, the people of Afghanistan have to be given the right to vote,” Mr. Omar said.

Mr. Abdullah’s withdrawal was the latest chapter in a deeply troubled election, the first run by Afghans since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.

The process has been marked by delays, fraud, Taliban violence and an internal dispute within the United Nations that led to the dismissal of the American deputy chief, who accused his boss of failing to prevent cheating.

After the U.N.-backed panel confirmed massive fraud, Mr. Karzai accepted a runoff but only under intense U.S. pressure. The U.N.-backed panel challenged figures from the government election commission showing Mr. Karzai had won the August vote with an absolute majority in the 36-candidate race.

U.S. Ambassador Karl Eikenberry and the U.N. chief Kai Eide negotiated with the two camps late into the night Saturday about a power-sharing deal, according to the Western diplomat.

But the negotiations broke down early Sunday when Mr. Karzai refused a formula for dividing Cabinet posts. If the deal had been accepted, Mr. Abdullah would have conceded rather than simply withdraw his candidacy, said the diplomat, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak for attribution.