Abdullah Abdullah is poised to boycott Afghanistan's run-off presidential election unless incumbent Hamid Karzai bows to a series of demands from his rival.
Officials in Mr Abdullah's campaign team said the former foreign minister would announce he was pulling out of the 7 November contest tomorrow in the absence of any change by Mr Karzai on measures to combat fraud.
'If by the end of today we do not receive a positive response to our conditions from the government, then Dr Abdullah himself will announce his reaction to it tomorrow,' said Sayed Aqa Fazel Sancharaki, a spokesman for Mr Abdullah's campaign.
Another senior campaign aide said if Mr Abdullah's conditions were not met, 'we will not participate in an election which is not transparent and fraud-free'.
Following widespread fraud in the August first round, Mr Abdullah has demanded Mr Karzai sack the head of the Independent Electoral Commission and suspend four ministers who campaigned for the incumbent.
Mr Abdullah laid out his demands at a press conference on Monday but they received short shrift from both Mr Karzai and Azizullah Ludin, the chairman of the IEC who was appointed by the president.
The IEC said on Wednesday that Mr Ludin could only be dismissed by the supreme court, while Mr Karzai says Mr Abdullah has no right to interfere in ministerial positions.
Mr Karzai's share of the vote in the first round fell to 49.67% after an UN-backed watchdog deemed around a quarter of all votes cast to be fraudulent.
Insistent that the fraud had been overstated, Mr Karzai only agreed to a run-off under extensive diplomatic pressure from Washington.
Mr Abdullah won just over 30% in the first round and has a mountain to climb if he is to overhaul Mr Karzai in the run-off.
As well as fears over fraud, the build-up to next Saturday's election is taking place against the backdrop of increased Taliban violence.
