To ensure a fair runoff election, the main challenger to Afghan President Hamid Karzai demanded on Monday the removal of the country’s election chief and 200 other staffers of the election commission

Abdullah Abdullah also called for his supporters to be allowed to monitor polling stations and to observe vote counting and meetings of the country’s Independent Electoral Commission. He said polling stations that his supporters cannot monitor for security reasons should be closed.

He also insisted that provincial officials in areas where fraud was committed should be fired immediately.

Abdullah, who was second to Karzai in the first round of voting on August 20, declined to say he would boycott the second round, on November 7, if his conditions were not met.

At a news conference, he told journalists, “These conditions are not that difficult, and I have thought about the lawful and legal issues of all conditions.”

(article source: CNN, photo source: Wikimedia)