Afghans cast ballot despite violence

Press TV, Sat, 18 Sep 2010 13:29:51 GMT

Afghan women cast their votes at a polling station in Kabul on September 18, 2010.

Despite Taliban violence and early reports of electoral irregularities, voting continues in Afghanistan's key parliamentary elections.

Although tight security measures have been taken in the country as more than 2,500 candidates compete for seats in the lower house of parliament, polls have already been hit by a series of attacks.

An assault on a police station in the northern Baghlan Province left six police officers dead. A blast also targeted the governor of the southern Kandahar Province; however, the official survived the attack.

Bombings and rocket attacks have hit several other polling stations across the country, leaving dozens of Afghans dead and wounded.

Taliban fighters had earlier threatened to disrupt the vote.

Meanwhile, Afghan president Hamid Karzai has urged voters to come out and vote.

Media outlets have reported a low voter turnout in many regions of the country, with many Afghans saying they have lost their trust in Western-backed democracy.

The US and its allies have failed to bring stability to Afghanistan after a decade of occupation.

JR/HGH/MMN

Afghanistan goes to the polls amid Taliban attacks

by Lynne O'Donnell Lynne O'donnell –

September 18, 2010

KABUL (AFP) –

Afghans braved deadly rocket and bomb attacks to vote for a new parliament on Saturday, with the war-weary nation on full security alert after the Taliban threatened to derail the high-stakes election.

Six people were killed in attacks and complaints of irregularities emerged following UN and US warnings that security and fraud were concerns for the second parliamentary vote since the 2001 US-led invasion ousted the Taliban.

 (Taliban fighters, referred to by AFP as insurgents) fired rockets in several cities and set off bombs at a polling station and alongside a convoy carrying the governor of Kandahar, the Taliban heartland in the south, but officials said several attacks had been foiled.

Men and women queued patiently to vote at separate polling stations, dressed in traditional clothes and burqas, determined to cast their ballot despite the security headaches and fears of retribution.

In many areas, voting was slow in what is seen as a key test for the credibility of President Hamid Karzai's corruption-tainted rule and the success of the US-led campaign against an intensifying Taliban insurgency (resistance to NATO occupation of the country).

"I am scared. I know there are Taliban threats but I felt I had to come and vote," said housewife Fawzya in the city of Kandahar, who came out with three daughters and two daughters-in-law.

Tens of thousands of Afghan and US-led NATO forces are involved in a massive security operation to guard against raids after the Taliban urged a boycott and warned it would attack anyone involved in the vote.

Karzai -- whose own re-election last year was mired in massive fraud -- called on people to vote to take their country "forward to a better future" after 30 years of war.

"We do hope there will be a high voter turnout, that people will come out and vote for the person, man or woman, of their choice without pressure."

More than 2,500 candidates are contesting 249 seats in the lower house of parliament, or Wolesi Jirga, a key step in a US-led process to bring democracy to the impoverished and conservative Muslim country.

Among them are 406 women contesting 68 seats reserved for them under legislation designed to better their rights.

The vote comes at a pivotal time for 144,000 US-led NATO troops trying to reverse the insurgency and allow American troops to start leaving next year.

Polls closed at 4:00 pm (1130 GMT), although those still queuing would be allowed to vote, an Independent Election Commission (IEC) official told AFP.

The commission said 92 percent of planned polling centres had opened, although more than 1,000 were already shuttered because of insecurity.

Turnout among the 10.5 million electorate -- a paltry 30 percent last year -- will be key. Experts believe that violence, expectations of fraud, vested interests and a voting process that favours the status quo will keep it low.

IEC chief Fazil Ahmad Manawi described turnout as "very good", but no statistics were immediately available.

The Election Complaints Commission said it had received complaints of delayed opening, intimidation, ineligible voters, misuse of registration cards, proxy voting, poor ink quality and shortages of ballot papers.

Afghans reported being able to rub the ink off their fingers with little effort, despite officials saying that it was the best quality indelible ink available, and along with other complaints.

"In west Kabul the ink rubs off. After I voted, the ink rubbed off," said Mohammad Zahir Najafi Zada, one of the candidates standing for parliament.

The United Nations and United States concede the vote will be flawed, but highlight the fact that it was taking place at all and said they expected it to be better than last year's presidential vote.

"We have to put it into context and hoping that it will not be a bad day," UN envoy Staffan de Mistura told Al Jazeera television.

Rocket attacks killed six people in eastern provinces Kunar and Nangarhar and Takhar in the north, local officials said.

Insurgents also fired a rocket near NATO headquarters in Kabul shortly before polls opened at 0230 GMT, but no casualties or damage were reported.

Toryalai Wesa, the governor of Kandahar province said he survived a roadside bomb attack while visiting polling centres in the volatile region.

But Afghan authorities described security as better than expected and said that several planned attacks had been thwarted.

While much campaigning has been personality driven, those who did come to vote early said lawlessness and corruption were their main concerns.

Around 115,000 Afghan soldiers and police were deployed to protect the poll, while NATO said its entire contingent was on standby.

But with politics rooted in tribalism and power concentrated in the hands of Karzai, the election results, which are not due until October 31, will little alter the nature of governance.

Violence overshadows Afghan parliamentary elections

BEIJING, Sept. 18, 2010 (Xinhuanet) --

Saturday, Afghanistan will hold its first parliamentary elections since a fraud-ridden presidential poll a year ago. But in the run-up to the vote, dozens of people have been killed or abducted in election-related violence.

This has occurred despite government efforts to secure safety for voters, election workers and candidates.

Saturday's parliamentary elections have already been overshadowed by bloodshed and tears.

On Friday evening, the head of a voting centre in southern Afghanistan was killed when his vehicle struck a roadside bomb. He is one of at least 22 people who have been killed in election-related violence.

In addition to that horror, 24 people, including four candidates and more than a dozen election workers, have been kidnapped across the country.

The Taliban militants have vowed to disrupt the election process. They have already waged an assassination campaign against government workers in recent months.

Their message is simple and clear --- if you vote, prepare to be attacked.

Mark Sedwill, NATO Senior Civilian Representative, said, "These elections are about the Afghans themselves. And in opposing these elections and trying to intimidate people who are participating in these, the Taliban are making clear for them, in the end, it is all about power and it's about the power to turn the clock back in Afghanistan."

The elections - the first since a fraud-ridden presidential poll a year ago - are seen as a test of the Afghan government's commitment to rooting out corruption.

The country's President, Hamid Karzai warns the election may not be trouble-free, but urges the voters to go to the polls for the good of the country.

Hamid Karzai, Afghan President, said, "And specially in Afghanistan under our circumstances we must expect that there will be irregularities, there will be problems, there will be allegations as well, but we should try to do our best under the current circumstances in making the election a success as things are today. Therefore it is very important that the Afghan people come out and vote and have trust in their vote."

The Afghan government has installed extra checkpoints throughout the country and dispatched about 280-thousand security forces to help secure polling stations.

How many Afghans ignore the Taliban's intimidation campaign and turn out at the polls will be one measure of whether the vote is considered a success.

 (Source: CNTV.cn)

Editor: Zhang Xiang