Karzai challenger prefers opposition to coalition

(CNN) - The candidate who will face Afghan President Hamid Karzai in a runoff election next month said Friday that he won't join Karzai's government if the incumbent wins another term, but instead will remain in opposition.

Abdullah Abdullah, who served as foreign minister in Karzai's government until quitting nearly four years ago, said he would congratulate Karzai if he "is elected through a transparent and credible process."

"My trust in becoming a candidate was not to be part of the same government, part of the same deteriorating situation," told CNN's John King in an interview taped for broadcast on Sunday's "State of the Union."

"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 and other charged massive fraud in the August 20 vote. The initial results gave Karzai the win, but a subsequent review by a U.N.-backed panel of election monitors threw out nearly one-third of Karzai's votes because of "clear and convincing evidence of fraud."

The result left Karzai short of the 50 percent need to avoid a runoff. After a flurry of meetings with U.S. and U.N. officials, the Afghan president agreed to the November 7 vote.

In a separate CNN interview to be broadcast Sunday on "Fareed Zakaria GPS," Karzai insisted that while there were "mistakes" and "some incidents of fraud" in the election, "the election as a whole was clean."