Kabul: Vote-counting in Afghanistan's parliamentary election was under way today after millions defied militant threats to cast their votes in the war-ravaged nation.
International allies praised Afghans for their courage amid fresh violence that saw 14 civilians killed during the second parliamentary vote since the 2001 US-led invasion ousted the Taliban.
But following UN and US warnings that security and fraud were concerns, complaints of irregularities emerged, with allegations of intimidation and ineligible voters.
After polls closed yesterday, the United Nations and the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) commended the Afghan people for upholding their right to vote in face of threats from the Taliban insurgency.
"This makes 40 per cent of the maximum number of voters," he said. But the Electoral Complaints Commission said it had received complaints of delayed opening, intimidation, ineligible voters, misuse of registration cards, proxy voting, poor ink quality and shortages of ballot papers.
"Taking these problems into account, FEFA has serious concerns about the quality of the elections," the monitoring group said, adding that it planned to produce more detailed reports on these problems.
"While counting was under way shortly after the closing of polls in some areas, in others it was postponed until the next day," FEFA said, citing one of several irregularities it had noted in the election.
President Hamid Karzai -- whose own re-election last year was mired in massive fraud and recorded a turnout of 33 per cent -- had called on people to vote to take their country "forward to a better future".
International allies praised Afghans for their courage amid fresh violence that saw 14 civilians killed during the second parliamentary vote since the 2001 US-led invasion ousted the Taliban.
But following UN and US warnings that security and fraud were concerns, complaints of irregularities emerged, with allegations of intimidation and ineligible voters.
After polls closed yesterday, the United Nations and the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) commended the Afghan people for upholding their right to vote in face of threats from the Taliban insurgency.
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"This makes 40 per cent of the maximum number of voters," he said. But the Electoral Complaints Commission said it had received complaints of delayed opening, intimidation, ineligible voters, misuse of registration cards, proxy voting, poor ink quality and shortages of ballot papers.
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"Taking these problems into account, FEFA has serious concerns about the quality of the elections," the monitoring group said, adding that it planned to produce more detailed reports on these problems.
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"While counting was under way shortly after the closing of polls in some areas, in others it was postponed until the next day," FEFA said, citing one of several irregularities it had noted in the election.
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President Hamid Karzai -- whose own re-election last year was mired in massive fraud and recorded a turnout of 33 per cent -- had called on people to vote to take their country "forward to a better future".
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