Abdullah plans to pull out of runoff

Afghanistan's presidential challenger, Abdullah Abdullah, is expected to call for a boycott of next weekend's run-off election following a breakdown in talks with the incumbent, President Hamid Karzai. Abdullah is scheduled to hold a press conference in one and a half hours to announce his final decision.

The Afghan constitution says any vote cast for a candidate who withdraws will not be counted.

A boycott would severely undermine the Afghan vote. But the Abdullah camp says no final decision has been made.

Sabrina Sahqeb, pro-Abdullah member of Afghan parliament, said, "There are some minimum requirements which he (Abdullah) put as a condition for the run-off of the election to make sure the process is healthy and we are not going to participate in fraud again but to (do) the election. So tonight is the deadline for that requirement and we are still waiting and hoping to hear from the president and his office about, the answer. Tomorrow he will announce his decision."