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Sporadic attacks across Afghanistan as polls open
Published in Saudi Press Agency on 20 - 08 - 2009


Sporadic attacks hit Afghan towns
as polls opened on Thursday for an anxiously awaited
presidential election that Taliban fighters have vowed to
disrupt, but the United Nations said the turnout was
encouraging, Reuters reported.
"The vast majority of polling stations have been able to
open and have received voting materials," said Aleem Siddique,
spokesman for the U.N. mission in Kabul.
"There have been a number of attacks, particularly in the
south and east of the country. But we are seeing queues forming
at polling stations in the north, also in the capital, as well
as, encouragingly, in the east."
Shops and businesses were closed and around-the-clock
squads of extra police checked the few cars on the streets in
Kabul.
President Hamid Karzai was one of the first to vote in an
election which could prove the toughest test yet of his own
mandate and his nation's fragile democracy.
He cast his ballot under tight security in a polling
station at a high school near his presidential palace in Kabul,
telling reporters he hoped for an outright majority in a
single round.
"One round will be in the interest of the nation," he said.
Karzai faces an unexpectedly strong challenge from his
former foreign minister, Abdullah Abdullah. Polls show Karzai
winning by a strong margin, but possibly falling short of an
outright majority and a second round run-off likely in
October.Official preliminary results are not expected for at
least two weeks.
-- SPA


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