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Afghans cast votes amid Taliban threat

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Afghanistan's parliamentary elections that began Saturday morning is continuing amid Taliban threat, tight security and reported mismanagement across the country.

Staff members stand beside boxes of ballots in Kandahar of Afghanistan, Sept. 16, 2010. Southern Afghan Kandahar province on Thursday began to distribute ballots to poll stations prior to the upcoming parliamentary elections set for September 18. [Zalmay/Xinhua]

People standing in queues are waiting for their turn to cast their votes for their favorite candidates.

However, reports from capital city Kabul and other cities speak of mismanagement and security incidents.

Although, the election body has assured of transparent voting, voters as well as candidates have complained of series of mismanagement including technical problems which paves the way for fraud.

One of the mismanagement, according to voters, is washable of the ink used in marking the finger of voters, allowing a voter to vote more than once.

Another problem is having more than one voting cards by some voters. According to reports, several persons have been held with several voting cards in polling stations attempting to cast in favor of certain candidates.

According to Pakitika's provincial administration Spokesman Rohullah Samoon, some 1,600 faked voting cards have been seized.

Spokesman of Election Complaint Commission (ECC) Zia Rafat has confirmed the mismanagement in polling centers, saying that there has been 30 percent weak points in the process.

Taliban threats and attacks in some places have caused the closure of polling sites.

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