Afghans to vote in chaos, corruption and Taliban threats

KABUL (Reuters) – Afghans vote Saturday in the parliamentary elections overshadowed by a chaotic organization, accusations of corruption and the threat of violence after decades of war.

The United Nations, which supports the process, urged Afghans to "seize this opportunity to exercise their constitutional right to vote" and called for elections to be held in a safe and secure environment.

Officials fear that the violence will prevent voters from going to the polls, especially after the assassination of the Kandahar police chief on Thursday.

Taliban militants have issued a series of statements urging people not to take part in what they consider to be a foreign – imposed process, and alert election centers could be attacked.

Thousands of police and soldiers have been deployed throughout the country, but nine candidates have already been murdered and hundreds of people killed and injured during election-related attacks.

Electoral authorities initially planned 7,355 polling stations, but only 5,100 could open for security reasons, according to the Independent Electoral Commission, which oversees the vote.

The vote was postponed for at least a week in Kandahar province after the assassination of police commander General Abdul Razeq. He was also delayed in Ghazni Province, due to arguments regarding the representation of different ethnic groups.

FEARS OF FRAUD

The widespread allegations of electoral fraud are a challenge to the legitimacy of the process, viewed by Afghanistan's international partners as an essential step ahead of next year's most important presidential election.

Afghan policy is still poisoned by the aftermath of a controversial presidential vote in 2014, which forced the two main rival groups to form an unstable partnership. Both parties have been accused of massive electoral fraud.

The political situation has put Afghanistan at the bottom of Transparency International's Global Corruption Index.

"Fraud, abuse of power and corruption will be the biggest challenge, more than security," said Aziz Rafiee, political analyst and executive director of the Afghan Civil Society Forum.

Some 8.8 million voters have been registered, but an unknown number, according to some estimates, could reach 50%, reportedly being fraudulently or incorrectly recorded.

Approximately 2,450 candidates vie for 250 seats in the lower house. Under the constitution, parliament examines and ratifies laws but has little real power.

In order to ensure that voting is fair, biometric voter registration technology was introduced at the last minute.

But many fear that the untested technology, which was still distributed to provincial polling centers last Thursday, will add to the confusion without eliminating fraud.