One of Afghanistan's two presidential contenders, Ashraf Ghani, has rejected charges of lectoral fraud, and asked his rival contender Abdullah Abdullah to rejoin the contest rather than quitting midway.
Abdullah Abdullah has said he will reject the result of the ongoing vote count due to what he claimed was "blatant fraud" committed by Ghani, the election authorities and outgoing President Hamid Karzai.
"I ask Dr. Abdullah as a national figure to respect the rule of law," Ghani told his supporters in his first speech since the dispute over alleged fake votes erupted.
"We are all tired of the language of threats and unlawfulness... Our votes are clean, and we will defend each vote," he added.
Abdullah Abdullah, who has boycotted the Independent Election Commission (IEC).
The United Nations has also appealed for Abdullah to re-join the election process, which, if completed, will be Afghanistan's first democratic transfer of power.
Ghani has said that if any fraud had taken place, it would be dealt with through the legal process.
