AFGHANS SET FOR PRESIDENTIAL VOTE

Kabul, 2 Jumadil Akhir 1435/3 April 2014 (MINA) – Afghans are gearing up for a presidential vote on Saturday to choose a successor to President Hamid Karzai.

Some 12 million Afghans are eligible to vote in the presidential election in which eight candidates are running.

Former Afghan Foreign Ministers Abdullah Abdullah and Zalmai Rassoul, and former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai are the strongest candidates in the presidential campaign in Afghanistan.

The election is to mark the first democratic transfer of power in the country’s history, Press TV quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting, Thurday evening.

A candidate must secure more than 50 percent of valid ballots to win. However, if no presidential candidate receives 50 percent of the vote, the two top candidates must face off in a run-off election in late May.

Afghan officials say 352,000 security forces have been deployed to provide security during the vote.

There have been frequent attacks in Afghanistan in recent days in the run-up to the presidential election.

The Taliban have said they will disrupt the vote by attacking the polling staff, voters and security forces.

On Wednesday, a bomber wearing a military uniform detonated his explosives at the crowded entrance of the Interior Ministry compound, killing at least six police officers and injuring several others.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.

On March 25, the militants broke into an Independent Election Commission office in Kabul and killed five people.

Violence in Afghanistan has been on the rise in recent years, despite the prolonged presence of foreign forces in the war-torn country since the US-led invasion in 2001. (T/P012/E01)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)