KABUL, Afghanistan, Oct. 25 (UPI) -- Former Afghan Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah said he would rather be in opposition than a power-sharing arrangement with Hamid Karzai.
Abdullah and the Afghan president are rivals in a second-round presidential vote set for Nov. 7. A Karzai spokesman also rejected a coalition government Saturday.
In an interview to be broadcast Sunday on CNN, Abdullah said he would accept Karzai's re-election if the process is "transparent and credible."
"My trust in becoming a candidate was not to be part of the same government, part of the same deteriorating situation," he said.
"Mine was for a change in this country. Mine was for bringing hopes for the people of this country and making the people of Afghanistan true participants in their politics, in the governance, in the developmental process, in the security situation and as a whole."
Abdullah was the runner-up in the first-round election. The first count of the vote found that Karzai had won more than the 50 percent majority needed to avoid a runoff, but an investigation backed by the United Nations found widespread fraud.
Karzai, under intensive pressure from international leaders, agreed to a second round.
