KABUL (PAN): Free and fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan (FEFA) head Nader Nadery revealed on Saturday Taliban insurgents chopped off index fingers of two voters on Election Day in southern Kandahar province.
At a press conference here, Nadery claimed a FEFA observer saw the insurgents cut off the ink-coloured index fingers of two voters for disregarding their warnings against participation in the presidential and provincial council polls.
He linked the low voter turnout in the historic elections to insecurity and threats of attacks from guerrillas. In some areas, Nadery argued, polling began much too late.
The so-called indelible ink was easily removed from voter fingers and card-punching machines conked out at several polling centres but the Independent Election Commission (IEC) later managed to address these concerns, the FEFA head said.
Due to early morning attacks and bomb explosions in Baghlan,
A FEFA observer claimed having evidence that supporters of the two main presidential candidates, local officials and provincial council members forced people to cast their ballot for candidates of their choice.
In Ghor, Laghman,
In Kunduz and Takhar, he pointed, several polling stations were closed before although the commission extended the voting time.
The Foundation deployed around 7368 observers -- 400 of them women -- across the country to monitor the election process.
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