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.

However, an Abdullah spokesman said no final decision had been made on the candidate’s pullout, and that Abdullah will announce his decision on Sunday morning. It was possible that word of the boycott was a negotiating tactic by the Abdullah camp.

Abdullah 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 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 on Friday, prompting Abdullah to decide on a boycott of the November 7 runoff.

A person close to Abdullah said on Saturday that the boycott decision came after a contentious and fruitless meeting on Thursday over Abdullah’s conditions for a runoff.

The Afghan said a boycott was certain, and that Abdullah would likely tell his supporters to simply stay home during the vote.

The Afghan Constitution says that any vote cast for a candidate who withdraws will not be counted. However, it does not specifically address a candidate who does not formally withdraw but urges supporters to boycott the polls.

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