Campaign ends on peaceful note in east

JALALABAD (Pajhwok): The two-month election campaign that ended last night had been undisturbed throughout eastern provinces, residents and officials said on Thursday.

They said residents widely participated in the electioneering for Saturday’s presidential and provincial council polls and there had been no major security incident.

Nangarhar police spokesman Hazrat Hussain Mashriqiwal told Pajhwok Afghan News the campaign had gone successful and without any security incident in the province.

He said the credit for the peaceful campaign went to security forces, who had adopted elaborate security measures and conducted a series of operations during the period.

The tight security measures enabled people to get in great numbers voter registration cards and partake in political gatherings, he said.

A resident of Rodat district said there had been no threats from militants to gatherings held in support of provincial candidates in the town.

“Initially, the people were worried that the Taliban would try to deteriorate the security situation, but they failed due to hard efforts by Afghan forces,” Saifuddin Storai said.

Storai said the elections could be a success if efforts at maintaining security remained undeterred.

A Sara Rud district resident, Assia, said women would also participate in political gatherings like men during the electioneering.

“Women in the past were unable to participate in such gatherings because of insecurity, but after they were assured security, their participation extended,” she added.

The campaign office of presidential runner Abdullah Abdullah also expressed satisfaction over the security situation in Nangarhar and praised security forces for protecting people.

The police chief for eastern Laghman province, Gen. Mohammad Daud Amin, said the election campaign had been without any problem.

He said tight security measures had been in place to help election campaigners organise big gatherings.

mds/ma

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