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Afghan Presidential Election: People Head to Polls despite Explosions

Afghan Presidential Election: People Head to Polls despite Explosions
folder_openAsia-Pacific... access_time4 years ago
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By Staff, Agencies

Voting has begun in Afghanistan’s presidential election amid heavy security, with early reports emerging of attacks in several cities.

Fourteen candidates are registered but the race to win over Afghanistan’s 9 million registered voters is likely to come down to incumbent president Ashraf Ghani and his former deputy Abdullah Abdullah. The winner will play a crucial role in the country’s quest to end the war with the Taliban and the resumption of talks between the insurgents and the US that were called off earlier this month.

The terrorist group, which controls more of the country than at any time since its regime was toppled in 2001, has threatened voters to stay away from the election or face dire consequences.

An explosion on Saturday inside a polling station in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar was confirmed by local officials, as witnesses said an ambulance rushed to the area. Bahir Ahmadi, a spokesman for Kandahar’s provincial governor, said so far three wounded people had been transferred to the hospital.

Explosions also hit the cities of Kabul, Ghazni and Jalalabad, officials said.

To protect voters and polling stations from Taliban attacks, tens of thousands of Afghan security forces have been deployed across 34 provinces. About 9.6 million of Afghanistan’s 34 million people are registered to vote for one of the 14 candidates at about 5,000 polling centers, which will be protected by some 100,000 Afghan forces.

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