Kabul- The challenger in the November 7 presidential runoff vote hinted Monday that he might boycott it unless the election chief was dismissed and three key cabinet ministers were suspended.

Abdullah Abdullah, a former foreign minister in President Hamid Karzai's government, said a free and fair second round of voting would require the "immediate dismissal" of Independent Election Commission head Azizullah Ludin.

"He has left no credibility for the IEC or for himself," Abdullah said.

He repeatedly blamed the IEC's six-member leadership appointed by Karzai for bias against him. Ludin has rejected the allegations. His spokesmen said Monday that the commission was independent and "no candidate can bring changes in its leadership."

In a press conference at his Kabul home, Abdullah listed what heecalled "minimum conditions" for a transparent election. He said that the interior, education, and tribal affairs ministers must be suspended, accusing them of using "state apparatus and money" to campaign for Karzai's re-election.

"Two parts of fraud machinery are in full force," Abdullah said, referring to the IEC and government entities that he accuses of co-engineering the first-round electoral fraud.

"We can not change everything, so if these conditions met hopefully, we will have minimum conditions and environment for free and fair election and results of such an election will be acceptable regardless of who will win and who loses," he said.

The August 20 election, marred by thousands of fraud allegations, will go to a runoff vote after a UN-backed investigation stripped Karzai of around 1 million votes, or one-third of all ballots cast for him.

After days of intense talks and mounting pressure by his Western allies, Karzai - who was declared the outright winner in the preliminary results - accepted the runoff with Abdullah.

Abdullah said Monday that Karzai's government had five days to respond to his conditions, but did not clarify what he would do if refused.

"I reserve my reaction if we are faced with that unfortunate situation," he said.

"I hope the conditions are met and for that I am ready to talk to Mr Karzai," he said. "They are simple and practical conditions. It could be met, it is doable and the time that we have given it, you can consider it generous."

Abdullah hinted that he might not accept the results of the second round if his demands were not met.

"These are all for national interest, so if the conditions are met, I will be the first one to welcome the outcome of such elections."

Officials from the United Nations and the commission vowed to put in place measures, including firing 200 - or more than half - of the voting coordinators from the first round, to avoid fraud. (dpa)