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NEWS

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SUBJECT Afghanistan casts ballots in the long-awaited parliamentary elections
DATE 2018-10-22
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On October 20th, Afghanistan casted ballots in the third parliamentary election since 2001 when the Taliban were removed. More than 2,500 candidates competed for 250 seats in the lower house.

 

Although parliamentary elections were planned for 2015 when the current assembly’s five-year term ended, the standoff after the controversial 2014 presidential election put the country on the brink of civil war.

 

With the intervention of the United States, Afghanistan was able to form the current government of unity. Currently, Ashraf Ghani serves as the president and his main rival Abdullah Abdullah holds the chief executive officer post.

 

The Saturday’s election is seen as a test ahead of the presidential elections planned for April 2019. As the first poll since Nato’s combat mission ended in December 2014, Afghan forces were left primarily responsible to ensure security.

 

Over 70,000 security personnel were deployed, and one-third of the polling centers closed due security concerns. At least ten candidates were killed in attacks in the run-up to the vote, to which both the Taliban and the Islamic State group claimed responsibility.

 

At least 36 people were killed and 130 were injured during Saturday’s voting.

 

While the polling faced some technical difficulties and resulted over 200 polling stations to open on Sunday, the overall turnout is still considered good. Three million out of 8.8 million registered voters casted their ballots.

 

The preliminary results are expected no earlier than 10 November, which is 20 days after the election.

 

BY MSEAP Cyber Secretariat (mseap@assembly.go.kr)