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Kabul, Afghanistan – The long-awaited Afghan parliamentary elections closed the polls. A large number of voters have defied any deadly attack to vote.
Most polling stations in the country opened on Saturday at 07:00 (02:30 GMT) and were scheduled to close at 16:00 (12:30 GMT).
But the vote was extended until Sunday at 6 pm. (13h30 GMT) as The Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) said it has left more time for voters to vote, due to lack of election materials in some polling stations and problems with the electronic electoral system.
Zabih Ullah Sadat, deputy spokesman for the commission, told Al Jazeera that 250 polling centers "opened on Sunday at 9 am and remained open until all voters voted".
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The vote count is in progress and the preliminary results are expected within 20 days. The electorate has until December 20 to publish the final results.
"The extension of the ballot will not delay the publication of the final results," said Sadat.
Nearly nine million Afghans have registered to vote in the elections, the third since the Taliban armed group was ousted in 2001.
Over 2,500 candidates, including 417 women, compete for the 250 seats in Parliament.
Deadly violence
The vote took place in a context of security threats. The Taliban and Islamic State armed groups in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) vowed to disrupt the vote.
Several explosions targeted polling stations across the country. In the capital, Kabul, a suicide bomber hit a polling center on Saturday night, killing at least 18 people, including 10 civilians, seven security guards and a polling agent.
Twenty-five others were injured in the attack.
Danish Najeeb, Ispokesperson for the previous ministry, told Al Jazeera Sunday that 27 people were killed and 100 wounded all over the country on polling day.
"In Kabul, we have arrested two people involved in terrorist activities and ten in all of Afghanistan, and we have also recovered explosives and at least 10 mines since the beginning of the poll," said the Dane.
"Sixty people accused of interference in the election, including government employees, were arrested," he added.
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The run-up to the elections was also marked by violence, with at least 10 candidates killed and two more kidnapped.
According to the electoral commission, at least a quarter of the country's polling stations have not opened for security reasons.
In the southern province of Kandahar, elections were delayed one week after Thursday 's assassination of the region' s powerful police chief, General Abdul Raziq, during a bombing claimed by the Taliban.
The poll also did not take place in Ghazni because of precarious security conditions in the province, much of which is under the control of the Taliban. There is also an ongoing dispute over the division of Ghazni electoral districts to obtain a more balanced ethnic representation.
Good direction
Security was not the only major obstacle that threatened the postponement of the vote, initially scheduled for 2015.
The late introduction of the biometric system has resulted in significant delays in many polling stations, according to election observers.
According to the Transparency Election Foundation of Afghanistan (TEFA), 32% of biometric systems did not work in 22% of polling centers.
The election monitoring body, which had more than 7,000 observers in Afghanistan, said at least nine percent of the polling centers were not equipped with the biometric system.
Despite the difficulties, political analysts said the vote was a step in the right direction for the country.
"Despite serious threats, a considerable number of people queued for long hours in the polling centers to vote," Zaman Gul Dehati told Al Jazeera.
"Afghan forces have performed well, insurgents have not launched as many attacks as promised."
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