KABUL – Multiple explosions rocked polling centres across Kabul onSaturday, causing dozens of casualties, amid growing anger among voters asthey waited hours to cast their ballots in long-delayed legislativeelections.
At least 30 people have been taken to a trauma hospital run by the ItalianNGO Emergency, including a dead child, the organisation said on Twitter,hours after the Taliban warned voters to boycott the ballot “to protecttheir lives”.
Afghan officials confirmed there have been casualties but would not providea number.
An AFP correspondent saw voters fleeing a polling centre in the north ofthe Afghan capital following a blast that a witness said had caused anumber of casualties.
Deadly violence has marred the shambolic preparations for the parliamentaryelection that is more than three years late, with hundreds killed orwounded.
The latest bombings are likely to scare off voters, hurting turn out andthe credibility of the election.
Missing voter registration lists and hiccups with biometric voterverification devices — which are being used for the first time — alreadyhave caused lengthy delays at polling centres across the country, votersand candidates complained.
Most polling centres opened late after teachers employed to handle thevoting process failed to show up on time, said the Independent ElectionCommission (IEC), which has promised to extend voting hours.
“I came here early to finish and go home quickly, but we have been waitingfor an hour and they have not started yet,” Mustafa, 42, told AFP outside amosque in Kabul.
“The queue is getting longer. They have to register our votes quickly — weare afraid a bomber or a blast may hit us.”
Many polling centres in the heavily Shiite neighbourhoods of Kabul remainedclosed, a top government official told broadcaster Tolo News.
“I have been waiting for two and a half hours and the IEC officials saythey have not received the voter (registration) list yet,” said MohammadMohaqiq, a deputy to Afghan Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah.
Abdullah — Afghanistan´s equivalent of prime minister — also waited foraround half an hour at a polling centre as election workers searched forhis name on a list.
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IEC chief Abdul Badi Sayyad later apologised for the delays.
Almost nine million people have registered to vote in the parliamentaryelection, which is more than three years late.
The killing of a powerful police chief in a highly secure compound in thesouthern province of Kandahar on Thursday has eroded confidence in theability of security forces to protect polling locations.
Voting in Kandahar has been delayed by a week following the attack, whichkilled three people, including General Abdul Raziq.
As voting got under way Saturday, three rockets were fired into thenorthern city of Kunduz, a police spokesman said. No casualties werereported.
There also were numerous reports of bomb explosions near polling stationsin several provinces.
Despite the risks, President Ashraf Ghani urged “every Aghan, young andold, women and men” to exercise their right to vote, after casting hisballot in Kabul.
Photos posted on social media showed scores of men and women clutchingtheir identification documents purportedly lining up outside voting centresacross the country amid a heavy security presence.
A woman dressed in a burqa leaving a polling centre in the northern city ofMazar-i-Sharif told AFP she had been worried about “security incidents”,but decided to vote anyway.
“We have to defy the violence,” Hafiza, 57, said. “In previous years wewere not happy with the elections, our votes were sold out.”
The IEC, which has been skewered over the chaotic lead-up to the ballot, onFriday urged Afghans to “vote only once” and called on others not tointerfere in the process. – APP/AFP
