- Afghanistan's first democratic election has ended in
controversy after most presidential candidates called for a boycott half-way
through voting.
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- The move followed claims of widespread voting irregularities.
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- But the favourite to win the poll, interim President
Hamid Karzai, says the vote was free and fair.
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- The joint UN-Afghan electoral commission ordered the
voting to continue and said it would review the protest at a later date.
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- Despite the wrangling among the candidates, BBC correspondents
around Afghanistan have reported great levels of enthusiasm among ordinary
people for the democratic process.
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- The dispute centres on the supposedly indelible ink that
had been dabbed on to voters' thumbs to show they voted. Many voters were
able to wipe the ink off.
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- BBC News Online's Sanjoy Majumder in Kabul says the boycott
could make Mr Karzai's attempts to extend his political reach over this
deeply divided country that much more difficult if he wins the vote.
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- He has led the country since the fall of the hard-line
Islamic Taleban nearly three years ago.
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- 'Respect our people'
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- Mr Karzai sounded angry as he dismissed the complaints
of 15 of the 18 presidential candidates.
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- "Who is more important, these 15 candidates or the
millions of people who turned out today to vote?" he asked journalists
in Kabul.
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- He said all the candidates "should respect our people,
because in the dust and snow and rain, they waited for hours and hours
to vote."
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- Earlier a senior United Nations official helping supervise
the vote said that "overall it has been safe and orderly".
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- "The vote will continue because halting the vote
at this stage is unjustified and would deny these people their right to
vote," Ray Kennedy said.
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- He was speaking after the 15 candidates signed up to
the boycott.
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- "Today's election is not a legitimate election,"
one of the candidates, Abdul Satar Sirat said.
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- "It should be stopped and we don't recognise the
results."
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- 'Bound to be problems
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- The allegations of voter fraud arose after complaints
that the indelible ink used to mark voters' fingers can be washed off.
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- The Associated Press reported the only woman candidate,
Masooda Jalal, as saying: "The ink that is being used can be rubbed
off in a minute. Voters can vote 10 times."
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- There was a brief suspension of the poll in some areas
while the complaints were investigated.
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- The extent of potential fraud remains to be seen, but
our correspondent says the row has provided a convenient rallying point
for a previously disunited opposition.
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- 'Optimistic'
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- President Karzai is widely tipped to win, although Uzbek
General Abdul Rashid Dostum and Tajik former education minister Yunus Qanuni
have fought high-profile campaigns.
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- Correspondents say much will depend on how the country's
various power brokers react to the result and how far the victor is prepared
to challenge the political status quo in a country sometimes described
as a series of mini-fiefdoms.
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- Security was the leading concern in the run-up to the
election, with up to 100,000 Afghan and international security personnel
on high alert.
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- Taleban militants had threatened to disrupt the poll.
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- The first vote was cast by an Afghan refugee in neighbouring
Pakistan, where voting opened slightly earlier.
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- "I am very happy," said 19-year-old Moqadasa
Sidiqi, after she voted in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad.
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- Voting was extended in some areas to cope with demand.
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- The sealed ballot boxes are now due to be transported
to eight regional counting centres.
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- Initial results are expected in the coming days but it
may take a couple of weeks for all the votes to be counted.
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- AFGHAN VOTE
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- * Eighteen presidential candidates * Over 10.5m Afghans
registered to vote * 41.3% of voters are women * Men and women to vote
in separate polling stations * More than 25,000 polling stations * About
5,000 counting centres * More than 130,000 polling officials * About 740,000
Afghan refugees from Pakistan expected to vote * About 600,000 Afghans
in Iran eligible to vote
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- © BBC MMIV http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3729968.stm
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