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Yahoo! My Yahoo! Mail Yahoo! Search Search: Sign InNew User? Sign Up News Home - Help Navigation Primary Navigation Home Singapore Asia Pacific World Business Entertainment Sports Technology Top Stories Most Popular Secondary Navigation Australia China India Indonesia Japan Malaysia Philippines Thailand Vietnam Search Search: Afghanistan votes for president AFP - Thursday, August 20 KABUL (AFP) - - Afghanistan went to the polls Thursday to elect a president for just the second time in its war-torn history with a sweeping security clampdown in force to prevent threatened Taliban attacks. ADVERTISEMENT Dozens of people queued up at polling stations in the capital Kabul and at towns in the largely peaceful north, but early turnout was poor in parts of the south where the Taliban have a strong presence owing to security fears. The Islamist militia has struck repeatedly inside the capital in a bloody countdown to the elections aimed at putting the country more firmly on the path to democracy eight years after the US-led invasion ousted the Taliban. Western-backed President Hamid Karzai hopes to win an outright majority to avoid a run-off, but his nervous government has ordered a blackout on reporting violence during polling day, threatening journalists with heavy penalties. An energetic campaign by ex-foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, who has a northern powerbase and draws on ethnic Tajik support, has boosted the chance of a run-off, which would take place in around six weeks time. Explosions were reported in the southern city of Kandahar, where four blasts rang out an hour before polls opened, in central town Ghazni and northern town Kunar, where a witness said five of his relatives were wounded by rocket fire. "I request my dear countrymen to come out and cast their vote to decide their future," said Karzai after casting his vote in a Kabul boys' school. Western officials have played down expectations of perfectly free and fair elections over reports of vote-buying and Karzai's reliance on warlords, but say an estimated quarter of a million observers will guard against abuses. Attacks have stoked fears about whether it is safe to vote despite government reassurances, and stepped up US and NATO anti-insurgency offensives. In Kabul, authorities searched cars and people at checkpoints, while officials frisked people queuing up to vote at some polling stations. "This is my second time to vote and I've come early before work because it's the only way we bring change to the country," Nooramin, a 22-year-old private company employee, told AFP as dozens queued up at a polling station. "I'm sad that there were some rockets fired, some explosions heard, but such acts will not stop people voting on this important and historic day," said Kandahar governor Toryalai Wisa, casting his vote. Escalating strikes in recent days, the Taliban claimed responsibility for two suicide bombs targeting NATO in Kabul, pledging to sabotage the Western-backed elections in one of the world's most lawless nations. Thursday marks only Afghanistan's second direct presidential election, in a crucial test of a system installed after the Taliban were ejected from power in late 2001, following the September 11 attacks. Seventeen million Afghans have registered to elect a president and 420 councillors in 34 provinces across the largely rural and impoverished country. It is a difficult process in a nation where more than 70 percent of people are illiterate, and bound into fierce tribal and religious allegiances. One opinion poll carried out by a US organisation last month predicted Karzai would be forced into a run-off, winning 44 percent of the vote at the first round with Abdullah coming in at 26 percent. A tense government threatened to expel foreign journalists who violate a ban -- ordered in the "national interest" -- on reporting attacks during the elections and vowed to close any local media outlet that does the same. The United States, human rights groups, journalists and United Nations levelled heavy criticism against the government over the attempted ban. Claims of vote-buying and biased use of government resources have added to concerns about the credibility of the election, along with rampant corruption and Karzai's reliance on warlords who stand accused of rights abuses. "The issue is the process -- if it is credible, then the winner will have legitimacy to address the problems in the country that need to be addressed," added a Western diplomat. Despite billions of dollars of Western aid, most Afghans still lack electricity, roads are bad, jobs are scarce and graft rife. Voting centres opened at 7:00 am (0230 GMT), but the electoral commission said it would only announce later in the day how many sites had opened despite the deployment of 300,000 Afghan and foreign forces to protect voters. The number could lie anywhere between the 6,200 polling stations of the 2005 parliamentary elections, and an ideal of nearly 7,000, election officers said. Email Story IM Story Printable View Blog This Sign in to recommend this article » 0 users recommend Related Articles: Asia Pacific Japan opposition could win by a landslide - mediaReuters - Thursday, August 20 Australia, NZealand travel, military plansAFP - 2 hours 48 minutes ago Software caused SKorean rocket launch problemsAFP - Thursday, August 20 Australia swine flu jabs plan: ministerAFP - Thursday, August 20 NKorea to send mourners to SKorea, seeks US talksAFP - Thursday, August 20 Most Popular – Asia Pacific Viewed UK UFO sightings spiked when blockbusters released Canadian singer Celine Dion pregnant with second child Egypt warns pharaohs' tombs could disappear Sleep disorders linked to premature deaths: study It's nuts! Squirrel becomes a Web sensation View Complete List » Search: Home Singapore Asia Pacific World Business Entertainment Sports Technology Top Stories Most Popular Copyright © 2009 Yahoo! Southeast Asia Pte Ltd. (Co. Reg. No. 199700735D). All Rights Reserved. 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