An Afghan election monitoring group says Taliban insurgents have madegood on their threat to chop off ink-stained fingers of voters.Meanwhile, international observers are rendering a tentative verdict onthe electoral process, calling Thursday's balloting generally positiveand democratic.
Two voters in Afghanistan's Kandahar province, where there is asignificant Taliban presence, had their ink-stained fingers chopped offby insurgents. The head of the country's Free and Fair ElectionFoundation, Nader Nadery, tells VOA his group's observers reported thatthe two men were attacked by the Taliban on Election Day.
The report came as key international monitors are rendering a tentative assessment of the election process.
TheU.S.-based National Democratic Institute says aspects of the election"were in accordance with democratic principles." But there were seriousflaws that must be addressed before future elections.
NDIpresident Kenneth Wollack was asked if his organization, which hasmonitored 200 elections worldwide, could consider the elections inAfghanistan to have been free and fair.
"We have seen too manyelections around the world and it is why we reserve a final assessmentto an end of a process not as the process is still unfolding," he said.
Allegationsof voting irregularities are widespread and international monitorsacknowledge they were not able to observe firsthand what took place inmany provinces because of poor security.
The European Unionmonitoring mission says the violence and intimidation prevented a freeelection in some parts of the country. It notes turnout wasconsiderably higher in the North where challenger Abdullah Abdullahdraws support from Tajiks, but particularly low in the South, a Pashtunstronghold of incumbent President Hamid Karzai.
One of theAmerican observers, former U.S. Senator Gary Hart, praises the millionsof voters who defied what he calls " a small group of cowardly peoplein the shadows who hate democracy."
"I know of few, if any,mature democracies in the world where faced with the threat of violenceand violence itself that turnout for the voters would have been higherthan it was here Thursday," he said.
The election camps of bothPresident Karzai and challenger Abdullah are claiming their candidatesare heading to victory, capturing enough votes to avoid a runoffelection. However election officials say tabulations have not beencompleted and are preliminary. Partial results will not be announcedbefore Tuesday. It may be weeks before full, official voting totals arereleased.
A successful and credible election - with the loserspeacefully accepting the outcome - is deemed crucial for Afghanistan.The country is battling an insurgency with the help of 100 thousandforeign troops. Billions of dollars in aid have poured into Afghanistansince the U.S.-led invasion in 2001 ousted the Taliban from power.