Afghan voters defy election day attacks and delays as high turnout expected

Afghans braved chaotic delays outside polling stations and the threat of militant attacks to vote in parliamentary elections on Saturday that were seen as a major test of the Western-backed government's credibility.

A suicide bomber killed 15 people in Kabul, the most serious of a series of smaller-scale attacks that caused dozens of casualties across the country but did not deter voters who endured long queues to cast their ballot.

"Today the people gave an unanswerable response to the enemies of Afghanistan," government spokesman Haroon Chakansuri told reporters.

Voting should have been over by the time the suicide bomber struck a polling station in the north of Kabul, killing 10 civilians and five police, but polling stations were kept open longer than normal to cope with large numbers of people who had been unable to cast ballots.

Turnout was higher than expected, with long lines forming outside polling centres in the main cities, but many voters were forced to endure extended waits because of technical and organizational problems.

"People's enthusiasm and participation despite threats,intimidation and attacks by militants must be lauded today,"said one senior international security official, who added: "Theelectioneering process will require close scrutiny as it isclear that there were multiple failures."

Untested biometric voter-registration equipment, rushed in at the last minute to counter voter fraud, caused particular problems. The Transparent Election Foundation of Afghanistan, a civil action group, said the devices suffered malfunctions in more than 40 per cent of polling centres.

"The biggest problem is with the biometric machines, thereare some sites where they're not working and a lot of votershave been discouraged and have gone home," said NasibullahSayedi, a voter in the western city of Herat.

The Independent Election Commission (IEC), the body overseeing the ballot, said voting hours would be extended in some centres to cope with demand and some polling stations, which had not opened at all, would be open on Sunday.

Warning to voters

In the days leading to the vote, Taliban militants issued a series of statements telling people not to take part in what they consider a foreign-imposed process and warning election centres may be attacked.

Security officials said there were more than 120 handgrenade or improvised explosives attacks, but they said many ofthese did not target voting centresbut were aimed nearby,apparently with the aim of frightening voters away rather thancausing casualties.

Afghanistan's political scene is still tainted by theaftermath of a disputed presidential vote in 2014 that forcedthe two main rival groupings to form an unstable partnership.Both sides were accused of massive electoral cheating.

But high turnout, at least in the major cities, reflectedstrong support for the process in the face of threats frommilitant attacks and widespread disillusion with a corruptpolitical class.

"I want candidates to serve the country and hear the voicesof the disabled and the poor," said Abdullah, a wheelchair-boundvoter in Herat. "People ask what difference one person's votewill make, but I say, if a million disabled people come out tovote, don't you think that will make a difference?"

Allegations of fraud

However numerous allegations of voter fraud made before election have presented a challenge to the legitimacy of the process, seen by Afghanistan's international partners as a vital step ahead of more important presidential elections next year.

Due to the difficulty of collecting and collating resultsacross Afghanistan, the overall results will not be known for atleast two weeks.

In Baghlan province in northern Afghanistan, men and womencame out in numbers to vote and created human chains around sixpolling stations to prevent the entry of suicide bombers.

Some 8.8 million voters have been registered but an unknownnumber, by some estimates as many as 50 per cent or more, arebelieved to be fraudulently or incorrectly registered.

Several pollingstations closed

About 2,450 candidates are competing for places in the lowerhouse, which has 250 seats, including one reserved for acandidate from the Sikh minority. Under the constitution,parliament reviews and ratifies laws but has little real power.

Election authorities originally planned 7,355 pollingcentresbut only 4,530 were open due to security concerns,according to the IEC.

Voting was postponed for a week in Kandahar province afterthe assassination of the powerful local police chief Gen. AbdulRazeq. The ballot was also delayed in Ghazni province byarguments about the representation of different ethnic groups.