50 killed during Afghanistan presidential elections

KABUL: Afghan officials said that the estimated election turnout was 60 percent and 50 people were killed during the vote on Saturday.
Polls closed in Afghanistan on Saturday to elect a successor to President Hamid Karzai, a decisive test of the country’s ambitions to transfer power democratically for the first time in its tumultuous history.
As most foreign troops leave by the end of 2014, whoever takes over from Karzai will inherit a troubled country plagued by an increasingly assertive Taleban insurgency and an economy crippled by corruption and the weak rule of law.
The election pitted former anti-Taleban fighter Abdullah Abdullah against ex-World Bank economist Ashraf Ghani after neither secured the 50 percent majority needed to win outright in the first round on April 5.
As voting ended at 4 p.m. local time, it emerged there had been far fewer incidents of violence than had been feared, and, like in the first round of voting in April, there was a palpable sense of relief in the Afghan capital.
“I’m from this country so I am never afraid of threats,” said Lajiullah Azizi, a hospital worker who voted in western Kabul just minutes after a small bomb exploded at his polling station. “I hope this election will bring peace.”
Officials immediately began counting ballots, although Afghanistan’s difficult terrain, where ballot boxes have to hauled by donkey from some of its remotest corners, means preliminary results will not be known until July 2.
“Based on what I saw, it’s been a very calm election day with vigilant security,” Thijs Berman, the chief observer of the EU Election assessment team in Afghanistan, said.
Karzai, standing down after 12 years in power marked by increasingly sour relations with the West, is certain to retain a hand in politics but has been tight-lipped about his plans.
“Today Afghanistan takes a step toward stability, development and peace. Come out and determine your destiny,” Karzai, clad in his trademark green Afghan robe, said after casting his ballot.
Twelve million voters were eligible to cast ballots at 6,365 polling centers across Afghanistan, from windswept deserts on the Iranian border to the rugged Hindu Kush mountains.
There were isolated cases of violence but voters were not put off by a couple of rockets landing in Kabul and other attacks, in which one person was reported injured. Long queues snaked out of polling centers soon after voting began at 7 a.m.
Rocket attacks were also reported in Ghazni province.
In a more serious incident, two tribal elders were killed when they defied a Taleban warning in Kunar province not to participate in the elections, triggering a gun battle between villagers and insurgents, local officials said. Four rockets landed in the provincial capital. No casualties were reported.
Overall, there were 150 roadside bombs, magnet bombs and rocket attacks, according to the interior ministry.
The turnout was so high that some 333 voting centers ran out of ballot papers, sparking minor protests by voters. The election commission said additional materials were later distributed and calm was restored.
“Security is a concern but the people of Afghanistan have defied security threats so far,” Abdullah said.
The election, however, has been fraught with accusations of fraud by both candidates and many fear a close outcome will make it less likely the loser will accept defeat, possibly dragging Afghanistan into a risky, protracted stand-off over the vote.
“We ask everyone to prevent and discourage people from fraud and vote-rigging so that we can have a transparent, free and fair election,” Ghani said after casting his vote in west Kabul.