Afghans Vote Despite Taliban Violence, Corruption and Threats

KABUL: A suicide bomber blew himself up in the Afghan capital Saturday, killing at least 15 people while the vote had ended in the parliamentary elections overshadowed by the threat of violence and long delays in polling stations.

The bombing was not claimed in the immediate aftermath, which seems to have been the most serious of a day marked by a series of attacks at small scale having made dozens of victims across the country.

The vote should have been completed by the time the suicide bombing hit a polling station in Kabul, killing 10 civilians and five policemen, but polling stations were kept open longer than normal for cope with a lot of people. The turnout was higher than expected, with long queues outside centers in major cities, but many voters had to wait for hours because of technical problems and problems. 39; organization.

Untested biometric recording equipment, which arrived at the last minute to counter electoral fraud, posed particular problems. The Transparency Election Foundation of Afghanistan, a civil action group, said the devices had malfunctioned in more than 40 percent of polling stations.

The Independent Electoral Commission, the body responsible for supervising the voting, said that voting hours would be extended in some centers to meet the demand and that some polling stations, which were not not open at all, would be open Sunday.

In the days leading up to the vote, Taliban militants made threats to ban citizens from taking part in what they consider to be a process imposed by foreigners, and offices of the United States. Alert could be attacked. But the high turnout reflects support for the electoral process and widespread disillusionment with a corrupt political clbad.