Afghan Voter Turnout Appears Light Amid Threats, Fraud Concerns by Craig Nelson and Ehsanullah Amiri - Wall Street Journal
Afghans trickled to polling stations to vote for a new president on Saturday, their numbers depleted by fears of attacks by Taliban insurgents and concerns that fraud and other voting irregularities would render any vote meaningless.
As reports of mostly idle polling stations began accumulating Saturday, Hawa Alim Nuristani, head of the government-appointed Independent Election Commission, went before reporters to declare the turnout satisfactory but provided no details.
Ms. Nuristani later ordered the polls to stay open for an additional two hours to allow people to cast their votes in an election that has shaped up as a contest between the president, Ashraf Ghani, and Abdullah Abdullah, his partner in the current national unity government.
Still, by the time polls closed at 5 p.m. local time, it appeared that the vast majority of the country’s 9.7 million registered voters had decided to stay home…