Afghanistan has wrapped-up its high-stakes presidential election and officials are calling it a success. But it is not clear how many people participated and there are reports of voting irregularities.
Afghan officials said scattered violence killed at least 26 people across the country. The dead included nine civilians, nine police officers and eight Afghan soldiers. Attacks were reported in Kabul, Kandahar and other major cities. But NATO officials said that overall, the election was a security success.
Election workers are now counting the votes, a process that could take several days before initial results are known.
In Kabul and in northern Afghanistan, voting was steady in some polling centers throughout the day. In the south and east, where fears of Taliban attacks were strongest, there were reports of very low participation.
A low voter turnout could damage the election's credibility and undermine support for the winner.
Presidential candidates have accused one another of stuffing ballot boxes, printing fake voter cards and tampering with the indelible ink that marks voters fingers, thus allowing people to cast multiple ballots.
Independent election monitors have not yet weighed in on the allegations.
In a field of more than 30 presidential candidates, four are considered frontrunners. Incumbent President Hamid Karzai's once comfortable lead shrank as election day neared. Former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah is considered his closest challenger.
Other leading candidates are former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani and Ramazan Bashardost, a popular lawmaker from Kabul. Candidates must get more than 50 percent of the vote to avoid a run-off.
Voters Thursday also cast ballots for advisory provincial councils.
A massive security operation was put in place, with hundreds of thousands of Afghan soldiers and police, and NATO and U.S. troops, providing back-up.
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