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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.

A boycott would severely undermine a vote intended to affirm the Afghan government''s credibility.

However, an Abdullah spokesman said no final decision had been made on the candidate''s pullout.

It was possible that word of the boycott was a negotiating tactic by the Abdullah camp.

Abdullah, who was once Karzai''s foreign minister, 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 talks between 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.

An Afghan figure close to Abdullah said Saturday that the boycott decision came after a contentious and fruitless meeting Thursday over Abdullah''s conditions for a runoff.

Both spoke on condition of anonymity, saying that the announcement must come from Abdullah himself.

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.

A spokesman for the Afghan election commission said that it is too late for Abdullah to officially withdraw and that a boycott will not prevent the runoff from going forward.

A spokesman for the Abdullah campaign, Fazel Sancharaki, said no decision had been made on a boycott and that the candidate would wait until the end of Saturday to see if his demands are met before making any announcement, likely on Sunday.

The runoff election in Afghanistan became necessary after widespread fraud in the first round of voting in August resulted in hundreds of thousands of Karzai''s ballots being invalidated, pushing him below the required 50 percent margin to win.

Concerns have been raised about a possible repetition of the ballot-box stuffing and distorted tallies in the second round.

Abdullah complained Monday that there were no assurances that the November vote would be fairer than the first balloting and demanded that the head of the Karzai-appointed Independent Election Commission, Azizullah Lodin, be fired.

One pro-Abdullah member of parliament said on Saturday she would like to see more assurances from the government on how it was going to prevent fraud in the run-off.

"We didn''t hear anything from the government, what they are ready for, how they can prevent these frauds from happening," Sabrina Sahqeb said.

"If we don''t hear from the government what will be the guarantee for that, I think we have to think carefully (about) not to be involved and not to take part in frauds again."

Abdullah''s conditions also include the suspension of several ministers and for more safeguards around the actual vote.

In private discussions, Abdullah pressed Karzai for a power-sharing agreement instead of a vote, but Karzai refused, insisting instead on a vote and then a power-sharing agreement, the Westerner close to the talks told The Associated Press.

Despite the massive fraud and rejected ballots, Karzai''s vote in the first round was far higher than Abdullah''s and he is widely expected to win the runoff.

This year''s election, the first run by Afghans since the ouster of the Taliban, was supposed to affirm the government''s credibility.

Instead, the massive fraud raised questions about the Karzai administration just as US officials are debating whether to send more troops.