Afghans vote in parliamentary elections under Taliban threat

The best thing we can say about Saturday's parliamentary elections in Afghanistan is that these elections have taken place.

Beyond that, the long-awaited and long-awaited election – the first one organized without massive foreign assistance and supervision since the end of the Taliban's rule in 2001 – was an exercise in chaos, marked by violence.

Around 5 pm, Kabul police said that a suicide bomber had tried to enter a polling station on the northern outskirts of the capital, then exploded when the police tried to arrest him, killing 10 people. civilian voters and five police officers.

Elsewhere in the capital, a loud explosion near a large building did little damage but scared off hundreds of panicked voters.

The Taliban, who vowed to disrupt the vote, said it had organized 164 attacks across the country on Saturday. In the days leading up to the election, insurgents murdered a senior security official in Kandahar province, prompting the authorities to postpone the election for at least a week. In the other provinces, 10 candidates were killed during the campaign.

In these elections, voters chose more than 2,500 candidates running for the 250 seats in the lower house of parliament.

In the capital and throughout the country, polling stations have opened hours late, if at all. People queued all morning and gave up. Those who managed to vote described scenes of frantic confusion and disorganization, with missing ballot boxes, badly registered names, and election officials unable to operate the newly installed biometric identification system.

"It's a mess in there," said a gray-haired worker, Rahmatullah Ahmadzadi, who was angry at a polling station in western Kabul around 10 am. "There are 5,000 people registered here and only 100 voted."

In the capital Saturday, the streets were blocked and armed security forces were posted at numerous intersections and outside each polling station. There was almost no traffic and most people went to schools or mosques in their neighborhood to vote.

In the middle of the morning, President Ashraf Ghani voted in a high security high school with his wife, Rula, at his side. He then said, "Today, we have together proven that we will defend democracy by voting without fear of a vote."

Many voters expressed a strong enthusiasm for the election, which they described as an opportunity to bring new faces and new ideas to the political scene. Voters for the first time seemed particularly enthusiastic, despite the same frustrations as others when they tried to vote.

"The lines are way too long, but I will not leave without voting," said Abdul Ghafour, a 43-year-old security guard who was waiting on the other side of the street for a long line of male voters. who did not seem to be moving at all. Women voted on separate sites.

"Our country needs new people in power," Ghafour added. "I have a candidate that I like well. He holds a master's degree and speaks eight languages. It is worth the wait.

But frustration increased as hours passed and voting was not progressing faster. On social networks and radio broadcasts, residents of remote provinces have complained of similar problems. In Herat, a man waited four hours to vote and election officials did not find his name. In Kunar, a polling station is running out of indelible ink. In Khost, nobody knew how to use the biometric identification equipment.

In Qarabagh, a town north of Kabul, voters blocked the main highway in protest, as election materials were not delivered at noon and nobody was able to vote.

A social media joke suggests that more people would be denied safe-zone voting than in Taliban-controlled areas, where the danger was considered so high that hundreds of polling stations had been closed down. advance.

By the end of the afternoon, dozens of polling stations had still not opened in Kabul, and election officials announced that voting in some areas would be extended by several hours. in the evening and possibly extended Sunday.

Combined with the delay of a week in Kandahar, this measure implied that the results would be announced much later, perhaps more than a month from now.

By the end of the afternoon, dozens of polling stations had still not opened their doors in Kabul and election officials announced that voting in some areas would be extended until the end of the day. 20 hours. and maybe continued on Sunday. However, officials said only 360 out of 4,900 polling stations had serious problems.

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