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KABUL, Afghanistan – Last general elections in Afghanistan (all times are local):
12:55
The Independent Electoral Commission of Afghanistan said that after the chaotic start of the first parliamentary elections in the country since 2010, some of the most affected polls would remain open until 8 pm local time __ four hours after the initial closing time.
Thousands of indignant voters blocked Saturday a road north of the capital Kabul after waiting more than five hours to open a polling station, said Mohammad Azim, governor of Qarabagh district. where the demonstration took place.
The president of the electoral commission, Abdul Badih Sayat, asked the national television to be patient with a new biometric system and explained that dozens of teachers trained in this system did not go to work in polling stations. It was unclear why or whether it was related to a Taliban warning specifically addressed to teachers and students asking them to stay out of the polls.
Sayat said that for polling stations that had not opened at 1 pm, voting would take place on Sunday.
It was not clear right away how many 21,000 polling stations across the country had been affected.
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12:05
A district police chief said two policemen were injured when they tried to defuse an improvised explosive device found near a polling station in a northwestern district of the Afghan capital. Kabul.
Khaled Haq Parast said two civilians were also injured when the explosive exploded as voters went to the polling station on Saturday in the polling stations of the Afghan parliament.
Elsewhere during the election day, Taliban fighters ambushed and killed four local policemen in the central province of Ghor while they were heading to a polling center in the capital Firozkoh, several hours after the start in the general election, said Abdul Hai Khateby. spokesman of the provincial governor.
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11h
The Afghan Ministry of the Interior said that the deployment of its Afghan National Security Forces had been increased to 70,000, against 50,000 previously in the country's army, to protect the country's 21,000 polling stations.
Elections in the two provinces of Kandahar and Ghazni have been delayed, as well as in 11 of the more than 400 districts of the country.
Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danish announced the increase in deployment without giving further details.
A few hours after the vote, several minor incidents of violence occurred, with the group belonging to the "Islamic State" group and the Taliban promising to disrupt the elections.
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10:45
Provincial officials said two attacks in northern Afghanistan injured two women and frightened voters who would mark their ballot in the country's first general election since 2010.
The spokesman of the police chief of Farah Province, Mohibullah Mohib, said that a mortar had been hit in a residential area of the capital city of Farah Province, in the western part of the country. # 39; Afghanistan. He added that no injuries had been reported and that security was under control. He said polling stations, including in the area of the mortar attack, were occupied by Afghans who were voting.
In Nari district, in the north-east of Kunar province, Taliban fighters opened fire on artillery roads leading to polling stations, injuring two women, the chief of police said. Deputy Provincial Police, Mohammad Zaman Ayar. The condition of the woman was not known immediately.
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10:30
The Deputy Director General of Afghanistan is outraged by the chaotic start of elections in Afghanistan.
Mohammad Mohaqiq, in an interview with a local television channel, criticized the preparations for the elections of the Independent Electoral Commission of the country.
He said: "People rushed like a flood to the polling stations, but the election commission employees were not present. They were sometimes present but there was no election material and in most cases the biometric system did not work.
Mohaqiq feared that frustrated voters would leave polling stations without marking their ballots.
The chairman of the Independent Electoral Commission, Abdul Badih Sayat, also told local television that technical problems had occurred. He did not say the poll would be extended, but said the commission was considering whether this might be necessary
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10:10
A police official in Kabul said that a second small explosion had been reported just hours after the opening of the parliamentary elections in Afghanistan.
According to Jan Agha, a "sticky bomb" placed under the vehicle of an intelligence official exploded Saturday in the district of Karte Se, to the west of the capital.
No casualties have been reported in the immediate aftermath, but security officials are on alert as ISIS affiliates and the Taliban have promised to disrupt the elections.
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9:30 am
A small explosion frightened voters who had lined up at a polling station in Qarabagh district, north of Kabul, to vote in the first general election since 2010.
The first act of violence has not injured since the polls opened at 7:00 am on Saturday.
More than 50,000 Afghan security forces are deployed throughout the country to protect 21,000 polling stations.
The Taliban warned of violence and asked students and teachers to refuse to use their schools for voting. Education Minister Mohammad Mirwais Balkhy said 5,500 schools across the country were used for the elections.
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7:20
Tens of thousands of Afghan forces scattered throughout the country as voting began in the parliamentary elections following a campaign marked by relentless violence.
The Independent Electoral Commission says 8.8. Millions of Afghans are registered to vote in Saturday's election. Wasima Badghisy, a member of the commission, described the voters as "very, very brave" and said that a participation of 5 million people would be a success.
In the run-up to the elections, two candidates were killed while the vote in Kandahar was delayed one week after a dishonest guard shot down the powerful provincial police chief.
Commission spokesman Aziz Ismaili said no results will be published until mid-November and the final results will be available later in December.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani marked his ballot while polling stations were open at 7 am
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