Afghans go to polls in historic election

Ignoring Taliban threats, Afghans headed back to the polls on Saturday for a second round of voting to elect a successor to President Hamid Karzai in a test of Afghanistan's ambitions to transfer power democratically for the first time in its tumultuous history.

More than 7 million voters turned out, representing nearly 60 percent of a total of 12 million eligible voters, at the country’s 6,365 polling centers, according to Afghanistan’s commission chief. 

The turnout was so high that some 333 voting centers ran out of ballot papers, sparking minor protests by disgruntled voters. The election commission said additional materials were later distributed and calm was restored.

Overall, there were 150 roadside bombs, magnet bombs and rocket attacks, according to the interior ministry. Nearly 50 people were killed and 41 wounded, according to Afghan officials.

As most foreign troops leave by the end of 2014, whoever takes over from Karzai will inherit a troubled country with an increasingly violent Taliban insurgency and an economy crippled by corruption and the weak rule of law.

The vote pits former anti-Taliban fighter Abdullah Abdullah against ex-World Bank economist Ashraf Ghani after neither secured the 50 percent majority needed to win outright in the first round on April 5.

There were far fewer incidents of violence than had initially been feared.

"Based on what I saw, it's been a very calm election day with vigilant security," Thijs Berman, the chief observer of the EU Election assessment team in Afghanistan, told Reuters after visting some polling stations.

Voters were not put off by a couple of rockets landing in the capital and other minor explosions, in which one person was reported injured. Long queues had snaked out of polling centers after voting began at 7 a.m. 

By mid-day the Taliban had failed to pull off any major attacks in the capital, Kabul, or key provinces, but rocket attacks were also reported in eastern Ghazni province.

The winner faces major challenges in trying to bolster Afghanistan's security forces against a relentless insurgency and improving the nation's economy and infrastructure at a time when international aid for Afghanistan is drying up. But many said just holding the country's first peaceful transfer of authority was a major success.

The presidential hopefuls have both have promised to sign a long-delayed security pact with the United States. That would allow nearly 10,000 American troops to remain in the country for two more years to conduct counterterrorism operations and continue training and advising the ill-prepared Afghan army and police.

President Hamid Karzai, who has grown increasingly alienated from his one-time U.S. allies during his two terms in office, has refused to sign the pact.

Many voters said they were eager to get the bilateral security agreement signed after watching Islamic extremists seize large sections of Iraq nearly three years after U.S. troops withdrew from that country. Iraq's Shia-led government had discussed with the Americans the possibility of a residual U.S. force but the two sides were unable to reach an agreement.

"Iraq is burning," Abbas Razaye, a 36-year-old shopkeeper, said after voting in a mosque in western Kabul. "We need the foreign troops for the time being. Otherwise our history of civil war will repeat itself and Afghanistan will deteriorate even more than Iraq."

Unlike the previous round, when long lines and ballot shortages prompted authorities to extend the voting, polls closed on schedule at 4 p.m. Official preliminary results to be announced on July 2, final on July 22.

Wire services