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KABUL (Reuters) – Afghans unable to vote in Saturday's general election following the opening of hundreds of polling stations were given another chance to vote on Sunday after voting hours were extended despite threats to security and security. fraud warnings.
Afghan women voted in parliamentary elections in a polling station in Kabul, Afghanistan, on October 20, 2018.REUTERS / Mohammad Ismail
About three million Afghans voted on Saturday, election officials said, but nationwide, complaints were filed against closed polls, often due to the lack of staff.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (AFUAN) issued a statement in which it said it was encouraged by the high number of voters on Saturday, many of whom suffered long delays due to technical and organizational problems.
"Eligible voters who have not been able to vote because of technical problems deserve the right to vote," he said.
The Sunday extension was extended for 401 polling stations and 500 additional officials were deployed.
Many independent election observers, seen as an important means of curbing efforts to manipulate results, have been reluctant to work, fearing militant attacks.
"This is not an ideal scenario," said a foreign security official, noting the added pressure on already-heavily-security forces, who were in a high state of alert following Taliban warnings to target the election.
More than 120 incidents involving hand grenades or improvised explosive devices were reported Saturday and dozens of people were killed or wounded across the country. In one incident, 15 people were killed by a suicide bomber attempting to enter a polling station in Kabul, but overall the violence was not as severe as some feared him. some responsible.
Voting for the lower house of Parliament is seen as a test before the next year's presidential election, but preparations have been overshadowed by chaotic preparations, accusations of fraud and threats of militant violence.
Nearly 9 million voters were registered, but many of them, up to 50% or more by some estimates, could have been fraudulently registered.
More than a million people voted in the capital, Kabul, but voter turnout was very low in the provinces, said Naeem Ayubzada, director of the Transparent Election Foundation of Afghanistan, an agency of action civic who monitors the poll.
He added that the decision to extend the vote, which had been taken unexpectedly following complaints lodged on Saturday, opened the way for abuses, with the half-filled ballot boxes remaining open all night in some centers. of vote.
"From the point of view of planning, it is very difficult," he said. "This offers a possibility of fraud."
The result of the election should not be known until at least two weeks because of the difficulty in counting and collecting the results.
In addition, the vote in Kandahar province was delayed one week after the assassination of the powerful local police commander, General Abdul Razeq. Elections in the central province of Ghazni have also been postponed due to disagreements over the representation of different ethnic groups.
James Mackenzie report; Edited by Simon Cameron-Moore
