However, Abdullah Abdullah told The Times that he would challenge alleged fraud only through legal channels, rather than calling his supporters out in protest, and would accept defeat if it was ultimately confirmed by election bodies.
His moderate stance — after talks with US officials — eased short-term fears that the country could split along ethnic lines and erupt in protest after Mr Karzai and Mr Abdullah both claimed a first-round victory on Friday.
The scale of the alleged fraud now threatens to undermine the entire election process, which is seen as a test of international efforts to defeat the Taleban and build democracy in Afghanistan.
Hamid Karzai will face a crisis of legitimacy and a legal challenge to his re-election if he is proclaimed the outright winner of Afghanistan's presidential ballot on Tuesday, opponents and an UN official warned today, as his chief rival accused him of "stealing" the election.
In a withering attack on an election process that Afghanistan's international backers are desperate should be seen as legitimate, Abdullah Abdullah pinned the blame on Karzai and his team for what he claimed were fraudulent results emerging from the country's southern and eastern regions. He told the Guardian: "It was led by Mr Karzai. He knew. He knew that without this he cannot win, about that I have no doubt in my mind."
The prospect of a protracted post-election dispute is an unhappy one for the US and its main partners in the Isaf force in Afghanistan, Britain, Canada and Germany, who are eager to declare the vote acceptable and avoid the uncertainty, delay and confrontation that could aggravate an already parlous security situation.
A woman with a child in Kabul, Afghanistan. Election observers say that the turnout by women in the recent presidential election was depressed by intimidation and other factors.
Women on a bridge in Kabul, Afghanistan. Independent election observers say that the turnout by women in the recent presidential election was depressed by intimidation and other factors.
Abdullah Abdullah gives a press conference in Kabul
Elections staff on duty in various polling centres.
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Security is tight as campaigning for presidential and provincial elections in Afghanistan draws to a close.
But observers fear the poll could be marred by fraud as hundreds of voter registration cards go on sale
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