The long-awaited parliamentary elections were held in 32 provinces across the country on Saturday and for the second day in parts of Afghanistan, including in a number of northern provinces.
On Saturday, 401 polling stations were meant to open in various parts of the country after not opening their doors on Saturday – Election Day.
On Sunday the IEC said 253 polling centers would open on Sunday which included a number of them in the northern provinces.
Elections In Balkh
The Independent Election Commission (IEC) office in Balkh province said 27 polling centers in five districts did not open on Saturday as planned.
Balkh’s IEC chief Mohammad Zahir Akbari said elections were not held at 14 centers of the 27 that remained closed on Saturday.
Akbari said the centers were closed by anti-government armed groups and illegal armed men.
“We witnessed three movements of the enemy in parts of the province, but they were addressed,” said Akbari.
According to Akbari, 145,000 voters participated in the elections in the province of whom 45 percent were women.
He also said 65 percent of ballot papers have been tallied so far.
Balkh police meanwhile said an attack in Nahr-e-Shahi district of the province killed four election observers.
“We should have held elections at those 14 centers, but police headquarters sent us a letter and apologized by being unable to maintain security there,” Akram Sami, Balkh police chief said.
A number of observers and voters however criticized the IEC for opening polling centers late, for technical problems with biometric devices and names not being on voters lists.
“We vote for development of our country,” Balkh resident Khoday Rahim said.
“There was lots of disorder and irregularities,” Balkh resident Musalima said.
“One of the problems is that some people (election commission employees) do not have enough information about the devices (biometric),” election observer Wahid Noori said.
Elections In Badakhshan
Saturday’s election in Badakhshan coincided with Taliban attacks on parts of the province.
Badakhshan election commission had announced that voting process would start at 7am in the province, but like other parts of the country, polling centers opened late.
Badakhshan election commission chief Rohullah Musavi said there were problems around elections in the province, but they did their best to manage the process properly.
“There were movements from the enemy and Taliban on Saturday. Today (Sunday) we witnessed shooting at our polling centers,” said Musavi.
Badakhshan police chief Sabir Aryan said security forces in the province, in addition to maintaining security at polling centers, were caught up in clashes with Taliban in a few districts.
“Four Taliban fighters have been killed and six others wounded,” said Aryan.
In the meantime, voters and election observers said there had been challenges adding that the problems occurred due to poor management.
A number of voters said some of the polling centers had not opened by 1pm on Saturday.
“The voting process had not started by 10am,” Badakhshan resident Afzal said.
“It is 1pm and the ballot papers have not arrived. People are leaving the polling center,” Badakhshan resident Farzana said on Saturday.
“At every polling station we saw three observers from each candidate which created lots of problems,” an electoral complaints commission representative Shakila said.
Elections In Jawzjan
The IEC’s acting chief for Jawzjan province said Sunday that their preliminary count shows that over 50,000 people voted.
The October 20 elections were held in only seven districts of the province. Voting did not take place in three other districts due to serious security threats.
In the seven districts, three polling centers remained closed on Saturday and Sunday due to security threats.
In total in the seven districts, 50 polling stations were open on Saturday.
Jawzjan election commission acting chief Hamidullah Baluch said they started counting the votes at about 8pm on Saturday evening and that the process took four hours to finish.
Baluch said many of voters in the province were women.
“We have installed a copy of the results in the stations where votes have been counted and have given a copy to the winning candidate and another copy to the electoral complaints commission. The original copy of the results will be sent to election commission in Kabul,” said Baluch.
Head of Jawzjan civil society union Maghferat Samimi said although people had participated in the elections on Saturday, there were challenges and problems in the process.
“Some voters who had stickers on their IDs, could not find their names on the voter list,” said Samimi.
Elections In Kunduz
The head of the election commission office in Kunduz province said Sunday that the polling centers that remained closed on Saturday opened on Sunday for people to use their right to vote.
Kunduz election commission chief Rasool Omar said a number of polling centers did not open on Saturday.
“In all Kunduz province there were 98 polling centers of which nine centers were closed based on an official letter from the interior ministry. We have received a letter to open these centers and they will be opened today or tomorrow,” said Omar.
Meanwhile a number of Kunduz residents who sustained injuries during Saturday’s election in insurgent attacks on polling centers said they knew there would be attacks, but they did not stay at home.
“I came from mosque after prayers and was going to my room. A rocket landed and I was wounded,” a Kunduz resident said.
“Thirty eight were wounded and two killed. The wounded have been transferred to hospital. One of the killed was a civilian and the other was a soldier,” Marzia Yaftali, the head doctor of Kunduz provincial hospital said.
Voters in Kunduz also complained about the delay in opening of polling centers, technical problems with biometric system and irregularities.
Kunduz health department officials meanwhile said in attacks on polling centers on Saturday two people were killed and almost 40 others wounded.