Afghans brave attacks to vote in elections

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Rocket attacks have disrupted polling in Afghanistan as parliamentary elections get underway.
Afghanistan's second parliamentary election since the Taliban regime was ousted began on Saturday morning in the shadow of widespread intimidation and kidnapping.

The Afghan government and western diplomats have sought to lower expectations of the vote, warning of insecurity and fraud, but hoping it will be better than last year's presidential elections. Polling stations opened hours after a 6.3 magnitude earthquake shook the country from its epicentre under the Hindu Kush mountains in the north east of the country. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

Last year's poll saw Hamid Karzai re elected amid widespread fraud and was the most violent day of 2009 following similar insurgent threats. Turn-out was only around a third of voters.

The Taliban this year have threatened to attack polling stations and voters. About 20 candidates, poll staff and campaign workers were kidnapped in the two days before voting began.

A rocket landed close to Nato headquarters in Kabul early on Saturday and several more were launched at a US base in Nangahar province, without causing casualties.

Mohammad Husman, who queued to vote in the east of the capital, said: "I came here because I want prosperity for Afghanistan, stability for Afghanistan." "I'm worried about security and fraud. I hope my vote goes to the person I picked to vote for." The elections have been keenly contested with over 2,500 candidates standing for 249 seats and around 650 fighting for 33 positions in the capital alone.

Many Afghans have called for a new generation of better educated, young candidates to replace incumbent strongmen who have failed to deliver their 2005 campaign promises and often remain implicated in the savagery of the 1990s civil war.

Walls and billboards have been wallpapered with posters for new candidates including businessmen, an Olympic female sprinter, a chat show host and a television comedian.

Bawar Hotak, a 32-year-old bodybuilding, shot putt and wrestling champion standing in Kabul, said voters demanded jobs, peace and education after years of disappointment.

He said: "We all voted in the first election. We were promised there would be solutions, but we haven't seen anything. No one reached out to us." However the election is instead expected to consolidate power among Mr Karzai's supporters and wealthy strongmen. Warlords and existing ministers and governors have promoted their own candidates.

Several campaigns have apparently received vast funding. The close relatives of existing governors, and ministers are among those standing.

Campaign workers and diplomats said voting had become a lucrative market for entrepreneurial election officials.

One senior diplomat in Kabul told the Sunday Telegraph fraudulent votes had been auctioned by officials in Wardak province for $6 (£4) each.

One campaign worker in Parwan, due north of Kabul, said he had been telephoned by a corrupt official and offered fake votes for $20 (£12) each.

He said: "They said we could for example send ten people to a polling station, but they would give us 20 ballot papers. Then they could add another 20 votes when they tallied the votes at the end."

The Taliban have formally rejected offers to join the political system and called for a national boycott, but several candidates have seemingly been promoted or allowed to campaign by local militant commanders.

The Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan said Taliban in Faryab had posted notices demanding voters support their favoured candidates.

Several candidates in north western Afghanistan are rumoured to have strong insurgent links.

Stephen Carter, an independent political analyst in Kabul said: "I don't think this is a breakthrough, I think it is more likely to be people accommodating themselves with the Taliban than the Taliban trying to enter the political system."