KABUL: Dr Abdullah Abdullah, one of the leading presidential candidates in the Afghan elections called on Sunday for immediate halt of a recount of the votes of the already delayed electoral process.

Dr Abdullah said he would not agree to the addition of hundreds of thousands of what he called suspicious votes.

He unilaterally withdrew his team’s election observers.

“The recounting process should stop, and if the election commission continue with recounting process without our observers, we will act,” Abdullah said.

“Abdullah’s camp is afraid of the recount because they would lose,” Daoud Sultanzoy, a senior Ghani campaign leader, told Reuters.

The standoff is likely to deepen the political crisis in Afghanistan after the Sept. 28 presidential election, which was marred by allegations of fraud.