Voting begins late in some provinces including Kabul

KABUL (Pajhwok): The process of voting in the presidential election began one or two hours late in Kabul and several other provinces on Saturday.

Earlier, the Independent Election Commission (IEC) had announced the voting would begin at 7:00am and continue till 5:00pm.

Voting at the polling booth specified for women at the Bibi Rabia High School polling site did not kick off until 9:15am.

Polling Station head Rahmatullah told Pajhwok Afghan News the voting process could not begin on schedule at one of the polling booths because the voter list had not been received.

Ahmad Jamshid, a resident of the Bagrami district of Kabul, said the voting process at the Qala-i-Numan High School could not begin because of problems in biometric devices.

Voting at a polling station in the Khwaja Ghar locality of Deh Sabz district could not kick off till 9:30 am.

A huge number of voters waited at the polling station but IEC officials and security forces did not comment on why the polling did not start at the scheduled time.

Asghar, a resident of the Alingar district of Laghman province, said there was a polling station in Slingar area but people did not go there to cast their votes due to insecurity.

Nangarhar governor spokesman Attaullah Khogyani said biometric devices had technical issues at some polling stations but the problem would be resolved soon.

Abdul Aziz Ibrahimi, IEC spokesman, said the commission would later issue a statement regarding the late start to voting at some polling stations.

nh/mud

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