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Biggest Obstacle at Polls May Be Ballots

Posted on: Tuesday, 20 September 2005, 03:00 CDT

KABUL, Afghanistan - Fatima picked up a ballot but did not know what to do next. She could not read. She did not know how to vote. She did not know the symbol or the number for her favorite person. She just knew he had a turban.

"Where is my candidate?" asked Fatima, 50, who like many Afghans has only one name.

"I don't know," responded Zakia Azizi, an election worker. "Turn the pages and find your candidate. Open the ballot. Turn the page and turn the page and turn the page. Find your candidate. I can't help you."

In the capital, Kabul, the confusing ballots seemed to pose more of a danger to voters than violence in Afghanistan's parliamentary elections. Results will be available in a few weeks.

Despite threats by the Taliban, there was only sporadic violence. Fighting in eastern Af-ghan-istan killed two policemen and wounded two U.S. soldiers Sunday, officials said.

A rocket attack killed four men in Kunar province, an Afghan army soldier was killed in eastern Nuristan province and three police officers were killed in southeastern Khost province. Two rockets landed at a U.N. warehouse in Kabul, injuring one.

"It was a complete defeat to the enemies of Afghanistan," Interior Minister Ali Ahmad Jalali said. "They tried, but they failed."

Across the country, millions braved fears, dressed in their best clothes and said they felt a duty to vote. Many see these elections as the final major step toward establishing a democracy in the country still recovering from the Taliban.

But it appeared that fewer people turned out than for last year's presidential elections, officials said.

Source: Augusta Chronicle, The

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