Voting under way in Afghanistan elections overshadowed by violence
186 views · Published 25 October 2018 · 1:09 · Indexed 30 September 2026
Channel: AP Archive · 2018 · News & Politics
(20 Oct 2018) Some Afghans lined up for hours to cast their vote Saturday in Parliamentary elections that are being protected by tens of thousands of security forces, who are on alert nationwide following a campaign marred by relentless violence. As voting began, polling workers struggled with a new biometric system and in several polling stations workers took an extraordinary amount of time to locate names on voter lists. In some polling stations in the capital Kabul voting started as much as an hour late causing small disturbances by frustrated voters, some of whom had come to vote nearly two hours before polls opened. The new biometric machines meant to curtail fraud were late additions to Afghanistan's elections and had not been tested in the field nor had workers had more than a few weeks to learn the system. More than 50,000 Afghan National Security Forces personnel have been deployed to protect the 21,000 polling stations. Insecurity forced the election commission to close nearly a third of its polling centers and cancel elections in 11 of nearly 400 districts. The Taliban have vowed to disrupt Saturday's vote, warning teachers and students not to allow schools to be used as precincts and warning Afghans to stay away from the polls. In the run-up to the elections, two candidates were killed while polling in Kandahar was delayed for a week after a rogue guard gunned down the powerful provincial police chief, General Abdul Raziq. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/ You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/339b17e66aeb269528654f1783fcdc2c
