{"id":5622,"date":"2019-09-29T14:19:42","date_gmt":"2019-09-29T09:19:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/umang.pk\/2019\/09\/afghan-election-sees-big-drop-in-voter-numbers-unofficial-estimate\/"},"modified":"2019-09-29T14:19:42","modified_gmt":"2019-09-29T09:19:42","slug":"afghan-election-sees-big-drop-in-voter-numbers-unofficial-estimate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/umang.pk\/en_us\/2019\/09\/29\/afghan-election-sees-big-drop-in-voter-numbers-unofficial-estimate\/","title":{"rendered":"Afghan election sees big drop in voter numbers: unofficial estimate"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Kabul:<\/strong> Afghanistan's presidential election turnout is officially estimated at over 2 million people, or about 20 percent of registered voters, officials confirmed on Sunday that the low participation rate would undermine voting rights.<\/p>\n

This is a sharp decrease from the nearly 7 million people who voted in the last presidential election in 2014.<\/p>\n

Tight security ensured a relatively calm election on Saturday, but concerns about low turnouts and dissatisfaction with the voting system could lead to the country in turmoil due to uncertain outcomes.<\/p>\n

Certainly, many Afghans have expressed threats of armed attacks in elections, which appear to be a major test of the Western government's ability to protect democracy from the Taliban attempt to derail.<\/p>\n

However, according to election officials, they do not have the right to disclose their turnout, so according to officials who asked for anonymity, only one in five of the 9.67 million registered voters cast their vote.<\/p>\n

Previous elections were polluted with fraud charges, dozens of deaths, and claims that the election commission was not independent. Memories on this matter were stopped at Saturday's vote.<\/p>\n

Security and the worsening of the Taliban warnings have prevented many polls.<\/p>\n

Taliban fighters attacked several polling stations across the country to derail this process, but strong security prevented massive violence.<\/p>\n

Preliminary results are not expected before October 19, and final results will not be available until November 7. If a candidate does not take more than half of the vote, a second round is held between the two main candidates.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n