Afghan Candidate Boycotts Count of Votes --- ."We suspend our engagement with the commission," Mr. Abdullah said, demanding the removal of the country's chief electoral officer and the creation of a neutral committee to adjudicate his fraud claims. "We are asking for the counting process to be stopped immediately." --- Yusuf Nuristani, chairman of the IEC , which organized the election and is counting the votes, said Saturday's turnout was up from 6.6 million in the first round. While turnout was largely the same or lower in much of the country, the IEC's initial tallies indicated a dramatic surge—in the areas of eastern Afghanistan that are Mr. Ghani's base. --- At a Senate hearing on Wednesday, James Dobbins, the U.S. special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, urged the candidates and their supporters to remain patient. -- "It will be some time before we know the outcome of the vote," he said. "Premature or undocumented allegations of fraud are as dangerous as fraud itself." --- Mr. Nuristani has urged Mr. Abdullah since Saturday to bring all the evidence he has to the separate watchdog charged with adjudicating the election, the Independent Electoral Complaints Commission. -- Noor Mohammad Noor, an IEC spokesman, added that vote counting would continue as planned despite Mr. Abdullah's pullout, and the preliminary results would be released on time. "The process is ongoing," Mr. Noor said. -- The IEC plans to publish the preliminary results on July 2. -- The country's electoral watchdog has several weeks to review the 568 complaints of election-day violations it received. Only after that will the commission release final results. --- Mr. Ghani's campaign team explained the high turnout in eastern Afghanistan by its successful mobilization of voters and rejected allegations of widespread fraud. -- Faizullah Zaki, a spokesman for Mr. Ghani, on Wednesday said the authority of the election bodies should be respected. "The result must be accepted by all candidates, whatever it is," he said. "This is the job of the IEC, and we should all patiently wait for them to make their announcement." --- On Wednesday, Mr. Abdullah also accused Mr. Karzai of trying to engineer the result of the vote against him. "The president of Afghanistan wasn't neutral," he said. -- Mr. Karzai's spokeswoman, Adela Raz, said the president respects both candidates and has been in contact with them. "We hope that these disagreements will be solved according to the law and what is best for the Afghan people and Afghanistan," she added. --- "With the utmost concern, the U.N. Mission notes that appeals to circumvent or abandon the legal process and framework and appeal directly to supporters could incite violence," the U.N. mission in Afghanistan said Wednesday evening. The mission "strongly urges the candidates to take all steps necessary to control their supporters to prevent them from making any irresponsible statements and from taking steps that could lead to civil disorder and instability." - More, Margherita Stancati, http://online.wsj.com/articles/abdullah-alleges-bias-at-afghan-election-watchdog-1403089667