Afghan President Hamid Karzai's rivals today challenged him to quit the presidential race or face them in a public debate as they searched for a viable challenger to unite behind.
Mr Karzai's opponents believe the odds are stacked in his favour for an election on October 9th that marks the climax of Afghanistan's political transition, following the overthrow of the Taliban in late 2001.
"Since Karzai is abusing his position of power and monetary resources for the election, I and the council (of opposition candidates) support Karzai's resignation," Mr Hamayoun Shah Asifi told a news conference flanked by 14 other challengers or their representatives.
For the past two weeks, Mr Karzai has ignored calls for him to step down, arguing there is no constitutional reason for him to quit a position he has held since being put at the head of an interim government with US support after the Taliban's fall.
Mr Karzai's rivals dared him to either quit or face them in public debate under the tent of a Loya Jirga, a traditional grand council, to justify why he should fight the election as an incumbent.
But candidates said they were no longer considering a mass withdrawal from the race to protest Karzai's running as the incumbent.
Mr Latif Pedram, an ethnic Tajik and former journalist who returned from exile in France to contest the vote, said the plan was to challenge Mr Karzai's incumbency through the Supreme Court, launch a mass protest and finally ask allies in Karzai's cabinet to quit.
Powerful ethnic Tajik, Uzbek and Hazara military commanders who fought the Soviets in the 1980s and the Taliban in later years fear being squeezed out if Mr Karzai, a member of the majority Pashtun ethnic group, is elected.