Presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah has claimed victory in Afghanistan's disputed election, blaming fraud for putting him behind in preliminary results as fears rise of instability and ethnic unrest.
Abdullah told a rally of thousands of rowdy supporters in Kabul on Tuesday that he would fight on to win the presidency, but called for patience from loyalists who demanded he declare a "parallel government" to rule the country.
"We are proud, we respect the votes of the people, we were the winner," Abdullah said.
"Without any doubt or hesitation, we will not accept a fraudulent result, not today, not tomorrow, never."
Before he spoke, a huge photograph of President Hamid Karzai was ripped down from the stage - underlining the boiling anger among Abdullah's supporters after Monday's preliminary result in favour of poll rival Ashraf Ghani.
The election stand-off has sparked concern that protests could spiral into ethnic violence and even lead to a return to the fighting between warlords that ravaged Afghanistan during the 1992-1996 civil war.
Both Abdullah and Ghani called for the country to remain united as it faces a difficult transfer of power at the same time that 50,000 US-led NATO troops wind down their battle against Taliban insurgents and aid money declines.
"Afghanistan's unity is never in question," Ghani, a former World Bank economist, told reporters.
"We accept the preliminary result of the election, and I ask all my countrymen to patiently wait for the final results.
"Our votes are clean and will pass any auditing."
President Karzai, the United States and the United Nations all called for candidates to respect the election timetable, which allows for auditing and complaints before the official result is released on about July 24.
US President Barack Obama warned the two rivals that violence or taking "extra-constitutional means" would result in him stopping US assistance to the war-torn country.
In phone calls to Ghani and Abdullah, Obama "stressed that the United States expects a thorough review of all reasonable allegations of fraud to ensure a credible electoral process", the White House said in a statement.
Abdullah, a former anti-Taliban resistance fighter, said US Secretary of State John Kerry, who echoed similar warnings, would visit Kabul on Friday in a bid to help solve the crisis.
NATO's chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen said the allegations of poll fraud were a "grave concern", and that he hoped a credible outcome could be reached in order to allow the new Afghan president to sign a security pact before a NATO summit in September as international forces wind down their Afghan mission.
Afghanistan's international backers have lobbied hard to try to ensure a smooth election process, but the contested outcome realised their worst fears and risks setting back gains made since the Taliban fell.
Abdullah's supporters took the street 10 days ago when reports emerged that Ghani was well ahead in the vote count, though protests have so far been peaceful.
Ghani attracts much of his support from the Pashtun tribes of the south and east, while Abdullah's vote base is among the Tajiks and other northern Afghan groups -- echoing the ethnic divisions of the civil war.
Karzai is due to hand over power at an inauguration ceremony on August 2.
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