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Afghanistan will hold parliamentary elections on Saturday, despite serious security problems and ongoing fighting in as many as 20 of the country's 34 provinces.
Look at the elections, the numbers and the key questions:
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HOW MANY SEATS, HOW MANY CANDIDATES AND POLLING POSTS?
There are 2,565 candidates running for 249 seats in the lower house of parliament, including 417 women. Voters will be able to vote in more than 19,000 polling stations in 33 provinces. According to the electoral commission, 11,667 polling stations are reserved for men and 7,429 for women, 46 will serve the Afghan nomads, called Kochis, and 22 to the Sikh and Hindu minorities. The Kochis have 10 seats in Parliament reserved for them, while Sikhs and Hindus jointly have a seat.
However, security fears forced the electoral commission to close about 2,000 polling stations.
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MAIN ACTORS AND POLITICAL PARTIES
Some parties have emerged in opposition to the current national unity government of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani and Director General Abdullah Abdullah, but none can be considered a major player because most of the candidates running for the poll present as independent. The Afghan parliament has both a lower and an upper chamber, but only the lower house is elected by direct election. The upper house is composed of a mix of parliamentarians selected from local councils and representatives appointed by the president, as well as members elected at district elections. The legislature passed in the lower house must be approved by the upper house.
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CONFLICT IN THE PROVINCE OF GHAZNI
Elections will not be held in Ghazni province, in the east of the country, as the division of electoral constituencies is being contested in order to ensure a more balanced ethnic representation. Legislators elected in Ghazni in 2010 will retain their seats until the province is able to vote. In the last elections, eight years ago, the Hazaras minority won all seats in Ghazni, leaving the majority of Pashtuns and Tajiks without representation, the vote not taking place in their regions, which are mainly controlled by the Taliban.
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NO DISTRICT COUNCIL ELECTION THIS TIME?
Initially, district council elections were supposed to take place at the same time as the legislative elections, but the Independent Electoral Commission postponed this vote because only one-tenth of the country's 400 districts had enough male and female candidates to run for office. Fears for security and violence are the main reasons why so few people wanted to go to the district headquarters. Other reasons include high rates of illiteracy among Afghans living in the districts.
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ELIGIBLE ELECTORS
About 8.8 million people registered to vote. Although there has been no census for more than 30 years, the Afghan population is estimated at more than 30 million inhabitants. 64% of registered voters are men and 34% are women. the remaining 2% are Kochis, Sikhs and Hindus.
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SAFETY PROVISIONS
More than 50,000 Afghan security forces will be deployed to secure the polling stations. Afghan officials announced three seatbelt levels in each polling station. Police and members of the intelligence services will be the first two bands, covering a distance of 3 to 5 kilometers from polling stations. The third seatbelt will be patrolled jointly by the Afghan police and army. Officials said the elections would not be held in 10 fully Taliban-controlled districts, including five in the southern province of Helmand, in the heart of the Taliban country. The other five districts include two in Badakhshan Province (Northeast) and one in Baghlan Province (North), Sari Pul and Zabul Province (South).
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VIOLENCE
Deadly attacks on candidates and campaign rallies have been perpetrated by Taliban militants and Islamic states. Since the beginning of the 20-day campaign period, at least two candidates and more than 34 civilians have been killed in such attacks, including suicide bombings, motorcycle bombings and motor vehicle shootings. In the run-up to the election campaign, five candidates were killed and two others kidnapped, their fate unknown. In addition, Afghan security forces accidentally killed three bodyguards of an independent candidate during a raid on a house near his home.
On Thursday, the powerful Kandahar police chief, General Abdul Raziq, and at least one other senior provincial official and two policemen were killed when an Afghan guard opened fire at a meeting with police officers. US officials to discuss security before the vote. Contradictory information was provided about the fate of Kandahar governor Zalmay Wesa, who was reportedly injured in the beginning.
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REPORT TO KANDAHAR
After the attack on Thursday, the Independent Electoral Commission postponed elections in Kandahar for a week to give voters who could have stayed home on Saturday, fearing for safety, the chance to vote.
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TALIBAN WARNINGS
The Taliban, who have been fighting Afghan and NATO forces for more than 17 years, condemned the elections and warned Afghan candidates and security forces against their intention. They also warned teachers and students not to participate in elections and not to allow schools to be used as voting centers.
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CIVIL SOCIETY AND OBSERVERS ELECTON
More than 400,000 civil society activists, independents and members of political parties, as well as national and international observers and media representatives will follow the ballot.
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WHAT IS IN PLAY?
The Afghan government is keen to prove that it is able to hold these elections despite the current security challenges. The vote was initially scheduled for 2015, but the situation was too unstable at the time. Politically, there was a crisis after the 2014 presidential elections, and NATO forces had just handed over security to the Afghan forces at the end of 2014.
Now the government wants to send a message to the Taliban – who are engaged in separate negotiations with the United States on a possible political settlement – that their institutions will work and that if the Taliban decide to sit at the negotiating table, they deal with a government and a political process acceptable to the majority of Afghans.
