ZCZC
BFF-19
AFGHANISTAN-UNREST-ELECTION-VOTE
Afghans risk their lives to vote in delayed Kandahar poll
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan, Oct 27, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Afghans risked their lives
to vote in legislative elections in southern Afghanistan on Saturday, after
the Taliban-claimed killing of a powerful police chief delayed the ballot by
a week.
An hour after voting was due to start, long queues of turbaned men could
be seen outside still-shuttered polling centres in the deeply conservative
Kandahar provincial capital, which was blanketed with heavy security in
anticipation of militant attacks.
More than half a million people are registered to vote in Kandahar
province where organisers are under pressure to avoid last weekend’s debacle
that forced the Independent Election Commission (IEC) to extend the
nationwide ballot by a day.
Problems with untested biometric verification devices, missing or
incomplete voter rolls and absent election workers following Taliban threats
to attack the ballot forced Afghans to wait hours outside polling stations,
many of which opened late or not at all.
Similar issues were already evident in Kandahar, the birthplace of the
Taliban and a province notorious for voting fraud, with many polling sites in
the city still closed — despite assurances from IEC deputy spokeswoman Kobra
Rezaei on Friday that “we are absolutely ready”.
“I have been standing outside the polling centre since 6:00 am, but it
still hasn’t opened,” university student Mohammad, who uses only one name,
told AFP.
Voting in the province was postponed following the October 18 death of
General Abdul Raziq, an anti-Taliban strongman seen as a bulwark against the
insurgency in the south, amid fears of violence flaring up.
Raziq was among three people killed in an insider attack on a high-level
security meeting in Kandahar city that was attended by General Scott Miller,
the top US and NATO commander in Afghanistan.
Miller escaped unhurt, but US Brigadier General Jeffrey Smiley was among
13 people wounded in the shooting claimed by the Taliban.
It is hoped that the appointment of Tadeen Khan — a brother of Raziq and
a member of the Afghan security forces — as acting provincial police chief
will help keep a lid on polling day unrest.
MORE/SSS/1045 hrs
ZCZC
BFF-20
AFGHANISTAN-UNREST-ELECTION-VOTE-2-LAST
“I have to vote for a better future for my country,” shopkeeper Abdul
Abbas told AFP outside a polling centre.
“I have defied all the threats of attacks and explosions to vote.”
– Election death toll –
IEC figures show around four million people voted in last weekend’s
parliamentary election that was held in 32 out of 34 provinces after months
of chaotic preparations.
That compares with nearly nine million on the voter roll, but many suspect
a significant number of those were based on fake identification documents
that fraudsters planned to use to stuff ballot boxes.
Scores of attacks marred the first day of the election on October 20, with
an AFP tally showing nearly 300 civilians and security forces were killed or
wounded in poll-related violence.
That was significantly higher than the government’s casualty figures,
supporting speculation that officials had deliberately downplayed the
violence so voters would not be scared off.
The discrepancy also added to concerns about the lack of transparency and
credibility in the election, which is more than three years late and the
third since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.
More than 2,500 candidates, including mullahs, journalists and sons of
warlords, are competing for 249 seats in the lower house.
The election is seen as a dry run for next year’s presidential vote and an
important milestone ahead of a UN meeting in Geneva in November where
Afghanistan is under pressure to show progress on “democratic processes”.
The IEC is scheduled to release preliminary results on November 10.
BSS/AFP/SSS/1046 hrs