Afghans vote despite election chaos and violence
Kabul/Balkh (dpa) - Afghan parliamentary elections were overshadowed by organizational chaos and violence on Saturday, while officials were satisfied with voter turnout.
Independent Election Commission (IEC) officials gave out varying total turnout figures ranging from 1.5 to 4 million people across the 27 provinces where turnout had already been reported.
Reports from five other provinces are still to come in, IEC Chief Abdul Badi Sayyad said, adding that final statistics for the day will be given at a press conference later in the night. Elections in two other provinces had been postponed and weren't held Saturday.
The voting process was fraught with irregularities, including some sites remaining closed, others having no election material and still others reporting technical issues.
IEC spokeswoman Shaima Soroush told dpa that some 8 per cent of polling stations that remained closed due to technical issues would open on Sunday.
According to Thomas Ruttig, co-director and founder of Afghanistan Analysts Network (AAN), the election was chaotic, the preparation bad, biometric devices came into the process too late and the election commission did not control the process. He called it the worst election since 2004.
Sayyad acknowledged negligence by IEC staff and site managers while adding that teachers hired for the process in some provinces did not show up to the sites due to threats by the Taliban.
The Taliban had earlier warned teachers against working for the commission or allowing their schools to be used as polling stations.
The militants had also repeatedly warned voters against casting their ballot or taking part in the "evil process."
Run by its spokesman, Zabihullah Mujahid, the militants' Twitter channel was awash with propaganda tweets of attacks, and explosions to hamper and halt the election.
A total of 28 people, including 11 security forces, were killed in attacks and explosions across Afghanistan on Saturday, Afghan Interior Minister Wais Ahmad Barmak said on local TV station ToloNews.
At least 102 others, including 19 police, were injured in 192 security incidents across the war-torn country, Barmak said.
A suicide bombing near a polling station in Kabul left at least 15 people dead, Interior Ministry spokesman Nasrat Rahimi said.
At least 60 people were also injured in that incident, said Rahimi, who added that eight of the casualties were police officers.
According to Rahimi, the suicide bomber had been identified by police and blew himself up before he could get to a polling station in north Kabul.
The Afghan government has been under heavy pressure to hold the belated parliamentary elections by its Western allies and backers.
Some 8.8 million Afghans had registered for the election, according to statistics from the IEC. The number of registered voters, however, has been questioned by election experts, observers and political parties.
Voters in 32 of the 34 Afghan provinces were expected to cast ballots on Saturday.
The votes in southern Kandahar province and south-eastern Ghazni province were pushed back.
Despite the violence, people cast their ballots in hope that lawmakers voted in by them could change the course of the parliament for the better.
"I voted in hope that the upcoming parliament might be better compared to the previous one," 67-year-old Zikrullah from northern Balkh told dpa.
Zainab Mujahidzada, 22, who voted in Mazar-e Sharif, the capital of Balkh, said that some of the candidates have good plans and "I wanted to support them."
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