Mortar attacks, shootings and the deaths of at least 11 civilians and three security personnel Saturday disrupted Afghanistan's first nationwide vote since the fraud-plagued presidential election last year.
Kandahar city was wracked by more than a dozen rocket and bomb attacks that started before dawn. One bomb attack narrowly missed the Kandahar provincial governor's convoy as he traveled between polling stations to observe Saturday's parliament vote. Another rocket damaged the wall of a police station. One rocket in Baghlan province killed three civilians, while there were scattered attacks on polling stations in major southern and eastern cities.
Yet the election appeared to be less bloody than last year's vote.
The fraud-marred election of President Hamid Karzai weakened international support for his regime, and officials are hoping this year's vote will be seen as legitimate.
But voter turnout appeared to be mixed. Some voting stations reportedly attracted crowds of voters while others saw little activity.
"It is just a game of money, everybody fills their pockets," said resident Haji Zahir, who has never voted. "After the election we will not see the candidates here in Kandahar."
"Why should I get my finger cut off or get killed for nothing?" he said, referring to threats by insurgent groups to target anyone with an ink-stained finger indicating a person has cast a ballot.
The election commission has yet to provide an overall turnout figure but said late Saturday that 3.6 million people cast ballots at the 86 percent of polling stations that had reported figures so far. Nearly 6 million ballots were cast in the presidential vote last year, out of 17 million registered voters.
To keep voters from reaching polling stations Saturday, insurgents attempted to set up a road block southwest of Kandahar city, the area Canadian troops are focused on.
Many residents there opted to vote in Kandahar city because security conditions were better, said resident Matiullah Agha, or they chose not to vote at all.
"They are scared of the Taliban," Agha said. "I was scared while voting. I disguised myself, because I know there are many Taliban spies here."
But the commander of Canadian troops in Kandahar said the vote unfolded relatively quietly in Kandahar province, the birthplace of the Taliban.
"It's fairly quiet across the province. There's been a few incidents," Brig.-Gen. Dean Milner said. "I don't know exactly how many have gone out to vote which I think is really what we want to see, but I'm very confident that the security measures put in place... allowed for safe elections."
Some 140,000 NATO forces were working to ensure the election ran safely, while militants carried out isolated attacks across the country.
In all, the Interior Ministry reported 33 bomb explosions and 63 rocket attacks Saturday. At least 27 Taliban were counted among the day's dead, another 23 were injured and 26 were arrested after sporadic fighting.
Compared to the more than 30 civilians killed during the last election, Afghan security officials said the day's attacks were "insignificant" and 92 per cent of polling stations were up and running.
Meanwhile, a number of complaints are expected to be filed with the Afghan Electoral Complaints Commission in the coming days, CTV South Asia Bureau Chief Janis Mackey Frayer said Saturday.
"There have been complaints about a lot of things, even at this early stage," she told Â鶹´«Ã½ Channel by phone. "There were complaints about under age voters. There were complaints about thousands of fraudulent voter ID cards, and a number of people were actually arrested."
About 2,500 candidates had been campaigning for 249 seats in parliament.
The first partial election results are expected late next week. Final results may not come out until October.
With files from CTV's Janis Mackey Frayer and The Associated Press
