Belated start irks voters

KABUL (Pajhwok): Voters in central and some other provinces braved security threats and intermittent rains on Saturday but complained about an inordinately delayed start to the voting process at various polling stations.

Polling was supposed to begin at 7:00am but election staff at some centres in the Khudaydad locality of Kabul could not jerk into action until 7: 20am, with a large number of people waiting outside.

Noor Mohammad, 72, waiting in a long queue, told Pajhwok Afghan News polling staff arrived half an hour behind the schedule time and he was told the process would be set in motion soon.

Similarly, voting in Pul-i-Charki area could not be started until 7:30am. In central Daikundi province, many polling stations could not open until 8:00am

Taj Mohammad, a resident of Jozak locality, said he travelled for half an hour on foot to reach the polling station, but he was kept waiting.

In Logar, election equipment and staff could not reach eight polling centres. The police chief acknowledged polls material could not be transferred to Charkh, Baraki Barak and Khoshi districts.

Of 83 polling stations in Logar, six centres had to be closed because of security threat.

Similarly, in Ittefaq Masjid’s polling stations on the outskirts of Faizabad, the capital of Badakhshan, voting could not be kicked off till 8:00am. Voters had been queuing up there for almost an hour.

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