A suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowd outside a voter registration centre in the Afghan capital Kabul on Sunday, killing four people and wounding at least 15 in the latest attack on the centres.

The assaults underscore growing concerns about security in the lead-up to legislative elections scheduled for October 20.

“It happened at the entrance gate of the centre. It was a suicide attack. There are casualties,” Dawood Amin, city police chief, told AFP.

Interior ministry spokesman Najib Danish confirmed the death toll but put the number of wounded at 20.

The centre was also being used by people to register for national identification certificates.

The attack happened in a heavily Shiite-populated neighbourhood in the west of the city. Footage on Ariana TV showed pools of blood and shattered glass on the street.

Angry crowds shouted “Death to the government!” and “Death to the Taliban!” There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Photos posted on social media purportedly of the site showed several bodies on the ground and a badly damaged two-storey building.

Afghanistan began registering voters on April 14 for the long-delayed legislative elections, which are seen as a test-run for the presidential poll next year.

Election officials have acknowledged that security is a major concern as the Taliban and other militant groups control or contest large swathes of the country.

Afghan police and troops have been tasked with protecting polling centres, even as they struggle to get the upper hand against insurgents on the battlefield.

Militants on Friday launched rockets at a voter registration centre in the northwestern province of Badghis.

At least one police officer was killed and another person was wounded, officials said, blaming the Taliban.

On Tuesday gunmen attacked a voter registration centre in the central province of Ghor, kidnapping three election workers and two policemen.

Over the next two months, authorities hope to register up to 14 million adults at more than 7,000 polling centres for the parliamentary and district council elections.

Officials have been pushing people to register amid fears a low turnout will undermine the credibility of the polls.

President Ashraf Ghani last week urged religious leaders to use Friday prayers to encourage worshippers to sign up.

He also called on provincial governors to tell their employees to register themselves and family members. </s> People gather outside a voter registration center, which was attacked by a suicide bomber in Kabul, Sunday. (AP)

KABUL: A suicide bomber blew himself up in a crowd outside a voter registration centre in the Afghan capital Kabul today, killing four people and wounding at least 15 in the latest attack on the centres.

The assaults underscore growing concerns about security in the lead-up to legislative elections scheduled for October 20.

"It happened at the entrance gate of the centre. It was a suicide attack. There are casualties," Dawood Amin, city police chief, told AFP.

Health ministry spokesman Waheed Majroh said at least four people had been killed and 15 wounded.

Interior ministry spokesman Najib Danish confirmed the death toll but put the number of wounded at 20.

The centre was also being used by people to register for national identification certificates.

The attack happened in a heavily Shiite-populated neighbourhood in the west of the city.

Footage on Ariana TV showed pools of blood and shattered glass on the street.

Angry crowds shouted "Death to the government!" and "Death to the Taliban!" There was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Photos posted on social media purportedly of the site showed several bodies on the ground and a badly damaged two-storey building.

Afghanistan began registering voters on April 14 for the long-delayed legislative elections, which are seen as a test-run for the presidential poll next year.

Election officials have acknowledged that security is a major concern as the Taliban and other militant groups control or contest large swathes of the country.

Afghan police and troops have been tasked with protecting polling centres, even as they struggle to get the upper hand against insurgents on the battlefield.

Militants on Friday launched rockets at a voter registration centre in the northwestern province of Badghis.

At least one police officer was killed and another person was wounded, officials said, blaming the Taliban.

On Tuesday gunmen attacked a voter registration centre in the central province of Ghor, kidnapping three election workers and two policemen.

Taliban militants released the five on Thursday.

Over the next two months, authorities hope to register up to 14 million adults at more than 7,000 polling centres for the parliamentary and district council elections.

Officials have been pushing people to register amid fears a low turnout will undermine the credibility of the polls.

President Ashraf Ghani last week urged religious leaders to use Friday prayers to encourage worshippers to sign up.

He also called on provincial governors to tell their employees to register themselves and family members. </s> Members of Somalia's parliament are meeting under heavy security to elect the troubled country's next president.

Voting began Wednesday afternoon inside Mogadishu’s main airport, amid threats by militant group al-Shabab to disrupt the election.

Mortar rounds landed in neighborhoods near the airport Tuesday night, causing loud explosions but no casualties.

Journalists and international observers are watching as lawmakers cast their ballots into a transparent glass box.

The incumbent president, Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, is seeking re-election against 20 other candidates, including his predecessor, Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, and two former prime ministers. Three other candidates dropped out before voting began.

In speeches to parliament, candidates promised to restore security, boost the economy and fight against violent extremism.

The election takes place amid accusations of rampant corruption. Candidates are alleged to have given cash and gifts to lawmakers in exchange for votes, with one candidate reportedly paying more than $1.3 million.

If no candidate wins a majority in the first round of voting, the top three finishers will proceed to a second round. If there is still no winner, the top two candidates will face off in a third and final round.

Security beefed up

 

 Government security forces along with African Union peacekeepers have imposed tight security measures to prevent an attack by al-Shabab on the election site.

All major roads and alleyways in the city leading to the airport and government bases have been sealed off and flights to and from the Mogadishu airport have been canceled. VOA stringers report that most of the schools and businesses in the city are shut down.

 

 Movement around the venue has been limited and inside the venue the use of cellphones is prohibited.

“Due to the fact that mobile phones can be used for illegal political activities during the election and the fact that they can be used to carry out explosions, we have banned all phones. Even the MPs and the presidential candidates cannot bring their cell phones into the venue,” the chairman of the electoral committee, Abdurahman Beyle told VOA's Somali service.

 

 Millions of Somalis in and outside the country are watching the election on a live broadcast by Somali state television. The broadcast is being carried on the VOA Somali website, voasomali.com.

In northeastern Somalia, suspected al-Shabab militants launched an attack at dawn Wednesday on a hotel in the Red Sea port town of Bosaso. 

 

 Four hotel guards and the two attackers died during a gun battle. </s> A suicide bomber blew himself up outside a voter registration centre in the Afghan capital Kabul on Sunday, killing at least four people and wounding more than 20, officials said. The attack follows several weeks of relative quiet in Kabul and there was no immediate claim of responsibility.

Interior Ministry spokesman Najib Danesh said a bomber on foot approached the centre where officials had been issuing identity cards as part of a process of registering voters for parliamentary elections this year.

Ashmat Stanekzai, an adviser to the Kabul police chief, said at least four people were dead and more than 20 wounded but the final toll may increase. Pictures apparently of the immediate aftermath of the blast that were shared on social media sites showed four bodies, including women, lying on the ground and cars partially destroyed by the blast.

Voter registration centres have been set up across Afghanistan ahead of long-delayed parliamentary and district council elections due to be held in October and there have been serious concerns that militants might attack them.

Sunday’s blast took place in Dasht-e Barchi, an area of western Kabul inhabited by many members of the mainly Shi’ite Hazara minority, which has been repeatedly hit by attacks claimed by Islamic State.

For all the latest World News, download Indian Express App </s> At least 31 people have been killed after a suicide bomber attacked a polling station in Pakistan’s city of Quetta. The blast occurred on the day of the country's general election, whose candidates include former cricketer Imran Khan and the party of jailed ex-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.

A SUICIDE bomber on a motorcycle rammed into people waiting outside a busy polling station in the Pakistani city of Quetta, killing at least 31 and casting a dark shadow on what was to be a historic day for the country as Pakistanis cast ballots to elect their third consecutive civilian government.

The attack in Quetta, the capital of Baluchistan province, underscored the difficulties this majority Muslim nation faces on its wobbly journey toward sustained democracy.

The bombing also wounded 35 people, with several reported to be in critical condition, raising concerns the death toll could rise further, said hospital official Jaffar Kakar, a doctor.

As polls closed, Pakistan’s Election Commission spokesman Nadeem Qasim said that the commission had issued a notice to aspiring prime minister Imran Khan saying his vote could be disqualified after he cast his ballot in front of television cameras, violating “the secrecy of the ballot paper.”

Mr Qasim said Khan violated Pakistan’s constitution, which guarantees the secrecy of the ballot. Images showed a smiling Khan with his ballot paper laid out in front of him as he marked the ballot.

Voting for a National Assembly, the lower house of parliament, and four provincial assemblies followed a rancorous campaign marked by widespread allegations of manipulation.

Analysts and rights groups have warned of post-election instability and predicted losing parties would cry foul.

The uncertainty of the outcome of the vote — no single party appeared assured of a simple majority win — could also lead to prolonged post-election jockeying that would hamper the forming of the next government.

“Whatever way elections run, I see a lot of instability,” said defence analyst Ayesha Siddiqua, who authored Military In., a look at the extensive financial holdings of Pakistan’s army.

A witness to the attack in Quetta, Abdul Haleem, who was waiting to cast his ballot, said he saw a motorcycle drive into the crowd of voters just seconds before the explosion.

Mr Haleem’s uncle was killed in the blast.

“There was a deafening bang followed by thick cloud of smoke and dust and so much crying from the wounded people,” he said.

Islamic State claimed responsibility for the explosion, according to the group’s AMAQ news agency.

The group said the attack was carried out by a suicide bomber, but did not provide further detail or evidence for its claim.

Baluchistan also saw the worst violence during election campaigning earlier this month, when a suicide bomber blew himself up at a political rally, killing 149 people, including the candidate Siraj Raisani. Another 400 were wounded. Voting in that constituency has been suspended.

IS claimed responsibility for that attack, though Baluchistan has seen relentless attacks, both by the province’s secessionists and Sunni militants who have killed hundreds of Shiites living there.

Militants lobbed grenades and opened fire at a military convoy escorting election staffers and voting material in Baluchistan’s district of Turbat, killing four troops. Pakistan’s military deployed 350,000 troops countrywide at polling stations.

Also Wednesday, shooting between supporters of two opposing political parties killed one person and wounded two in a village near the northwestern city of Swabi.

Later, more clashes between rival political parties killed another person and wounded 15 elsewhere in the country.

Early voting was heavy at some polling stations in Islamabad, the capital, and also in the Punjab provincial capital, with several political party leaders standing in line to cast their ballots.

Local television reported scattered incidences of police arresting people with pre-marked ballots. Another concern is the unprecedented participation in these elections of radical religious groups, including those banned for terror links but resurrected and renamed, has also raised concerns — especially for minorities and women — ahead of the voting.

Jibran Nasir, an independent candidate from Pakistan’s financial hub of Karachi, said he received death threats and even had a fatwa, or religious edict, issued against him after he refused to condemn Ahmadis, reviled by mainstream Muslims as heretics because they believe the messiah promised in Islam arrived over a century ago. Pakistan in 1974 declared Ahmadis non-Muslims.

The leading contenders in Wednesday’s polling are former cricket star Imran Khan and his right-of-centre Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Party, and the right-of-centre Pakistan Muslim League, the party of disgraced Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, who is in jail serving 10 years on corruption charges. His younger brother Shahbaz Sharif took control of the party.

Khan’s supporters showered his vehicle with rose petals as he arrived to vote at a polling station near his home suburb in. Islamabad.

After voting, he appealed on Pakistanis to come out and vote in huge numbers “to save future generations.”

The third-largest party in the running is the left-leaning Pakistan People’s Party, headed by Bilawal Bhutto, the son of late Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, assassinated by the Pakistani Taliban, whom she had vowed to eradicate.

Election officials say more than 11,000 candidates are vying for 270 seats in Pakistan’s lawmaking Lower House of Parliament and 577 seats in four provincial assemblies.

There are more than 105 million eligible voters in Pakistan, 59 million men and 46 million women.

Pakistan’s election commission reminded candidates their elections will be nullified if the female voter turnout didn’t reach 10 per cent. The requirement was imposed after the 2013 elections, when several areas banned voting by women, mostly in Pakistan’s religiously conservative northwest. Some candidates were elected without a single woman marking a ballot.

International and domestic election observers will monitor the voting.

The European Union Election Observation Mission has 120 monitors at polling stations in major centres across Pakistan, with the exception of Baluchistan.

Under Pakistani law, separate seats are reserved for women and for non-Muslim minorities, which comprise 4 per cent of the population. </s> At least 13 people were killed and 30 wounded after a suicide bomber detonated explosives at an election campaign rally in Afghanistan’s Nangarhar province on Tuesday, Tolo News quoted provincial public health director Najibullah Kamawal as saying.

The explosion took place in Kama district where a candidate, Nasir Mohmand, had gathered people to explain his plans. Sohrab Qaderi, a member of the provincial council, said that around 250 people were in attendance, reported Al Jazeera.

Sayed Humayoun, who was at the meeting, said that elders were speaking when there was a huge blast. “I was knocked unconscious but when I opened my eyes there were bodies scattered all around the blast area,” he said.

No organisation has claimed responsibility so far.

The explosion came as campaigning started for parliamentary elections due on October 20. Five candidates have been killed in attacks so far, said the Independent Election Commission. The Taliban and the Islamic State have declared to disrupt the election process across the country. </s> Iraq's election commission says the results of the first national vote since declaring victory over ISIL are expected within two days.

The vote on Saturday saw a record low turnout, with 44 percent of eligible voters casting ballots. No election since 2003 has had turnout below 60 percent. More than 10 million Iraqis voted.

Polling station officials blamed the low turnout on a combination of tight security measures, voter apathy and irregularities linked to a new electronic voting system.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi is running to keep his post. His chief rivals are political parties with closer ties to Iran, as well as the influential cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, a staunch nationalist who campaigned against government corruption.

Nearly 7,000 candidates from dozens of political alliances are competing for the 329 seats in parliament.

Al-Abadi, who heads the Nasr (Victory) coalition, is seen by some as a front runner, but he faces stiff competition from Hadi al-Amiri, a paramilitary commander heading the Fatah alliance.

Another strong contender is Nouri al-Maliki, a former prime minister who is being seen as a possible kingmaker in the vote.

The results are expected within 48 hours of the vote, according to the independent body overseeing the process.

By Saturday afternoon, less than 20 percent of residents in the capital, Baghdad, had turned out to vote, according to the Iraqi High Electoral Commission (IHEC).

Initial IHEC reports put the overall turnout at 32 percent, compared to about 60 percent in the last elections four years ago.

Commenting on the low participation of voters, Renad Mansour, a research fellow at UK-based think tank Chatham House, told Al Jazeera: "Many Iraqis, especially in Sunni areas do not view the election as legitimate. Many boycotted the vote because they do not believe it will make a difference."

The low turnout was also partly blamed on a curfew and vehicle ban that came into force after midnight across several provinces in Iraq.

The government restrictions left the streets of the capital, Baghdad, looking empty during the early hours of the vote.

With public transport also banned, only vehicles belonging to security forces and politicians were allowed to move around.

"The polling stations were far away from us and without cars allowed, it was really hard to get to the polling stations," said Amal, a housewife living in central Baghdad.

The ban was partially lifted by al-Abadi later in the day, in an effort to improve turnout

Meanwhile, only 285,000 people out of Iraq's displaced population of two million had registered to vote, the electoral commission said.

The poll saw the implementation of a new electronic voting system for the first time in a bid to reduce electoral fraud.

Yet, many wanting to cast their ballots at different polling stations across the country complained of irregularities.

"We visited IHEC and checked the biometric system, we were very surprised how faulty the workflow and management was, we reported this," Hiwa Afandi, the head of the Kurdistan Regional Government's department of information technology, said in a post on Twitter.

"Not using technology is better than a faulty implementation. Auditing and certifying is a must for such application where trust is a big issue," he added.

The IHEC insisted that despite the irregularities, voting hours would not be extended because the electronic voting system had been scheduled to close at 6pm (15:00 GMT).

Negotiations over the formation of a new government are expected to drag on as no single alliance is expected to able to win the 165 seats required for an outright majority.

Instead, the bloc that wins the most seats will have to rely to the support of smaller grouping to achieve majority.

Until a new prime minister is chosen, al-Abadi will remain in office and retain all his powers.

Political power in Iraq is traditionally divided along sectarian lines among the offices of prime minister, president and speaker of parliament.

Since the first elections following the 2003 US-led toppling of Saddam Hussein, the Shia majority has held the position of prime minister, while the Kurds have held the presidency and the Sunnis the post of speaker of parliament.

The constitution sets a quota for female representation, stating that no less than one-fourth of parliament members must be women.

Once the election results are ratified by Iraq's Supreme Court, parliament is required to meet within 15 days.

Its eldest member will chair the first session, during which a speaker will be elected. Parliament must then elect a president by a two-thirds majority vote within 30 days of its first meeting.

The president is charged with naming a member of the largest bloc in parliament - the prime minister-designate - to form a cabinet within 30 days. If that individual fails, the president must nominate a new person for the post of prime minister.

In the past, forming a government has taken up to eight months. In 2005, allegations of vote-rigging delayed the ratification of election results for weeks.

Kurdish areas - where a banned referendum on secession was held last year - witnessed a relatively higher voter turnout compared to other parts across the country, according to reporters on the ground.

"In Kurdish areas, mobilisation might have worked in getting people out to vote. One of the main reasons behind this is that the referendum made Kurds realise that they cannot ignore Baghdad because when they did during the referendum, it backfired," explained Mansour, the Chatham House analyst.

Following the September 2017 referendum, the Iraqi military seized control of disputed territories, including the city of Kirkuk.

The territorial losses left many Kurds disillusioned by their leaders.

As a result, the two main parties that have traditionally dominated the local political scene - the Kurdish Democratic Party (KDP) and the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) – are now expected to see a drop in their share of the vote.

In contrast, smaller political forces such as Goran (Change), the Democracy and Justice Party - led by former senior PUK official Barham Saleh - and the Kurdistan Islamic Group - also known as Komalk led by Ali Bapir - are likely to record a strong poll showing.

In Baghdad, some Sunni voters expressed hope the election would help Iraq move beyond sectarian politics and become more inclusive.

"I voted for new people to come into the government," Haitham Hasballah, from the capital's neighbourhood of Mansouria, told Al Jazeera.

"The political situation in Iraq has been getting from bad to worse, so we definitely need new faces."

Another voter, Shaker Mahmoud, told Al Jazeera: "I voted for new people. I don't want anyone form the old government. I'm hopeful that change will take Iraq towards a positive direction."

Still, others in central Baghdad said they voted for al-Abadi, giving him credit for Iraq's military victory over ISIL.

After ISIL overran nearly a third of Iraq in the summer of 2014, the group launched waves of suicide bombings targeting civilians in Baghdad and in other areas of government-controlled territory.

But with support from a US-led coalition and Iran, al-Abadi oversaw a fierce war against the group's fighters and declared victory over ISIL in December 2017.

Despite al-Abadi's military achievements, Iraq continues to struggle with an economic downturn sparked in part by a drop in global oil prices, entrenched corruption and years of political gridlock.

The war left more than two million Iraqis, mostly Sunnis, displaced from their homes, with cities, towns and villages suffering heavy destruction. Repairing infrastructure across Anbar and Nineveh provinces, both majority Sunni areas, will cost tens of billions of dollars.

The election comes at a critical juncture in Iraq's relations with Iran and the US.

Both countries are allies of the Iraqi government but their bilateral ties are increasingly strained.

Additional reporting by Arwa Ibrahim from Doha, and Osama al-Zein and Bakr Ubaidi in Baghdad </s> A suicide attack at a polling station outside Kabul killed at least 15 people on Saturday, with several others dying in scores of bombings, rocket attacks and incidents of violence across the country.

Over 170 people have reportedly been killed or wounded as voters went to around 21,000 polling stations.

Technical issues forced the closure of some of the stations, while voting hours were extended until Sunday in other areas.

Read more: Afghanistan violence raises uncertainty over elections, Kandahar vote delayed

How voting day was marred

At least 18 people were killed and 67 injured in blasts close to polling stations in several areas of the capital, Kabul.

In eastern Nangarhar province, an explosion left at least two people dead and three injured, and in northern Takhar province, at least one person was killed and eight others injured when a suspected Taliban rocket hit their home, said local leaders.

Rockets fired from the outskirts of northern Kunduz city struck near polling stations, injuring several people, dpa reported.

Several polling stations stayed shut due to technical issues, including missing biometric systems, and the non-arrival of voter registration lists, officials said.

Hours into polling, Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission said voting would be extended until 8 p.m. local time (1530 UTC) across much of the country. It said some polling stations, where election materials arrived late, would postpone voting until Sunday.

The provinces of Ghazni and Kandahar — the scene of Thursday's violent attack — postponed polling for a week.

Read more: The high price of Afghanistan's broken democracy

Anger at voting irregularities

Many of the people trained to use the biometric machines did not show up for work, as Taliban warned the voters to boycott the ballot "to protect their lives."

One election observer from Kabul province told DW: "Everything is a mess ... nothing is working. The systems they have put in place are not functioning."

Sami Mahdi, a parliamentary candidate in Kabul, accused the election commission of "mismanagement." He added: "Our observers have also witnessed cases of fraud but we will have to assess these reports."

Yosuf Rashid, from the election oversight organization Free and Fair Election Forum of Afghanistan (FEFA), said it was too early to pass a judgment on the whole process. "I hope by the end of the day, the election commission learns from its mistakes and addresses these issues tomorrow."

Meanwhile, Aziz Ibrahimi, deputy spokesman for the Independent Election Commission, admitted to DW that there had been some irregularities: "The commission has decided to extend elections in centers which did not start work on time. But we do not know how many centers will remain open tomorrow."

Read more: Afghanistan election: Can young candidates turn things around?

mm, dj/jlw (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)

Each evening at 1830 UTC, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here. </s> Afghan election workers began counting votes on Saturday following a partial legislative ballot tarnished by scores of deadly terror attacks, technical glitches and administrative chaos.

Nearly 170 people -- civilians and security forces -- were killed or wounded in election-related violence, official figures showed, and there are fears of more bloodshed when voting resumes Sunday in 401 polling centres.

"Inevitable" problems with biometric verification devices, which were introduced at the eleventh hour, as well as missing voter registration lists and lack of staffing delayed or even prevented voting at those polling sites, the Independent Election Commission (IEC) told reporters.

According to initial IEC figures around three million voters turned up at 4,500 polling centres. Elections have been postponed in Ghazni and Kandahar provinces.

That compares with nearly nine million registered voters, though many suspect a significant number of those were based on fake identification documents that fraudsters planned to use to stuff ballot boxes.

Most polling sites opened hours late after voter rolls were not delivered or teachers employed to manage the voting process failed to show up following Taliban threats to attack the ballot.

There were multiple explosions across Kabul during the day. Hours before polls closed a suicide bomber blew himself up inside a polling centre in the Afghan capital, which police said killed at least 15 people and wounded 20.

There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the blast, but the Taliban said it had carried out more than 400 attacks on the "fake election" across the war-torn country.

Violence also disrupted voting in the northern city of Kunduz where a senior health official told AFP three people died and 39 were wounded after more than 20 rockets rained down on the provincial capital.

Eight explosions were recorded in the eastern province of Nangarhar, with two people killed and five wounded, the provincial governor's spokesman said.

The interior ministry put the overall casualty toll -- including civilians and security forces -- slightly lower at 160, with 27 civilians killed and 100 wounded.

There were 193 attacks across the country, which the ministry said was half the number recorded on the day of the 2014 presidential election.

Despite threats of violence, voters waited for hours outside polling centres across the country. Some eventually gave up and went home without casting a ballot.

University student Mohammad Alem said he felt "frustrated" after spending more than three hours trying to vote in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif, only to discover his name was not on the registration list.

"There also were some problems with the biometric devices because they were already running out of charge," he said.

After waiting four hours at a polling centre, Tabish Forugh tweeted he had not seen "even remotely similar... chaos" at previous elections.

The parliamentary ballot is more than three years late and only the third since the fall of the Taliban in 2001.

Turnout was likely affected after the terrorist group issued several warnings in the days leading up to the poll calling on candidates to withdraw from the race and for voters to stay home.

Hundreds of people were killed or wounded in the months before the poll.

The killing of a powerful police chief in the southern province of Kandahar on Thursday further eroded confidence in the ability of security forces to protect voters.

Voting in Kandahar has been delayed until October 27 following the attack.

Despite the risks, President Ashraf Ghani urged "every Afghan, young and old, women and men" to exercise their right to vote, after casting his ballot in Kabul.

Photos posted on social media showed scores of men and women clutching their identification documents lining up outside voting centres amid a heavy security presence.

A woman dressed in a burqa leaving a polling centre in Mazar-i-Sharif told AFP she had been worried about "security incidents", but decided to vote anyway.

"We have to defy the violence," Hafiza, 57, said.

At least 10 candidates out of more than 2,500 contesting the lower-house election were killed ahead of the poll.

Most of those standing are political novices, and include doctors, mullahs and journalists. Those with the deepest pockets are expected to win.

The poll is seen as a crucial test for next year's presidential election and an important milestone ahead of a UN meeting in Geneva in November where Afghanistan is under pressure to show progress on "democratic processes".

Preliminary results are scheduled to be released on November 10.

Votes cast without biometric machines will not be counted, the IEC has said.
A low turnout is reported, but no bombings at polling stations.