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| Afghanistan | |
| Afghans brave violence to vote in 2nd round | |
| 2014-06-15 | |
[AlJazeera] Voting in the second round of Afghanistan's presidential election has ended with millions turning out to cast their ballots braving fresh attacks that left at least 14 people dead and 41 others injured.
"Only in Kandahar province, where the polling stations opened one hour later, can people vote until 5pm," he said. The second round of voting to elect a successor to incumbent President Hamid Karzai pitted former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah against ex-World Bank economist Ashraf Ghani. Neither had secured the 50 percent majority needed to win outright in the first round on April 5. Security remained tightened across the country after Taliban fighters threatened to attack the election, which they have condemned as a US-sponsored charade. Omer Daudzai, the country's interior minister, said in a media briefing that there had been around 150 attacks of various intensity across the country since the polls opened. The Afghan security forces had been able to deflect most of the violence, he said. Al Jazeera's Imtiaz Tyab, reporting from Kabul, said there had been reports of rocket attacks in the capital shortly after the polls opened. He said there was a "huge security presence" in Kabul, with checkpoints and security forces all over the city. About 200,000 soldiers from the Afghan army had been deployed at polling centres across the country. 'Shortly before the polls closed, Nicholas Haysom, the deputy chief of the UN mission, described the vote as "good" so far. Counting the vote will take weeks. The preliminary result is due on July 2 and the final result on July 22. | |
| Posted by:Steve White |