Kandahar residents vote for WJ elections

KANDAHAR CITY (SW) – Residents in Kandahar thronged polling stations for the Wolesi Jirga (lower house) elections here on Saturday.

Though, the last week’s deadly shootout claiming the lives of the police and intelligence chiefs in Kandahar has left negative impacts on the residents, but the peoples’ response towards the polls today was positive. Some 172 polling stations in 15 districts are open for voting, but insecurity in two districts have made it impossible to hold polls there as well.

In conversation with Salam Watandar, a number of voters said election is the only way to end the ragging crisis in the country. They stressed Afghans are tired of war, and the future must now be decided with ballet not bullet.

Faiz Mohammad and Agha Jan, said they voted for their favorite candidate, and hope for the development of Afghanistan.

Some voters, however, complained about long queues, faulty biometric machines and irregular voters’ lists. Toryalay, Ayesha and Zalmay, three such voters, said such glitches irked many voters. This comes despite the claims by the Independent Election Commission not to repeat last week’s mistakes here.

Despite the Taliban’s warnings, there has been no election related security incidents so far.

A total of 110 candidates, including 13 women, are competing for 11 WJ seats from Kandahar, three of which are reserved for women.

ENDS