Afghans Head to Polls
Afghans head to the polls on Sunday for parliamentary elections nearly four years after the Taliban were ousted, with turnout expected to be high despite a wave of militant violence and threats of more.
Eleven people were killed in guerrilla clashes on the eve of the elections for a national assembly and councils in all 34 provinces, but U.N. organisers said they were confident voting could be held across the country.
Enthusiasm among Afghans to vote in their first free legislative elections in more than 30 years is high.
“I am excited,” said 19-year-old high school student Roya Khushal in the southern city of Kandahar.
“We get to choose. I hope they will work for us, work for our society,” she said of the new parliament in which women have been reserved 68 of the 249 seats.
The Taliban have called on Afghans to boycott the polls and warned they could be caught up in attacks on foreign troops.
Lieutenant-General Karl Eikenberry, commander of U.S.-led forces in the Muslim country, said Taliban insurgents would not hesitate to attack election workers or voters to try to disrupt the ballot, but they would not succeed.
Source: Free Republic, Reuters.
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