• <nav id="c8c2c"></nav>
      • <tfoot id="c8c2c"><noscript id="c8c2c"></noscript></tfoot>
      • <tfoot id="c8c2c"><noscript id="c8c2c"></noscript></tfoot>
      • <nav id="c8c2c"><sup id="c8c2c"></sup></nav>
        <tr id="c8c2c"></tr>
      • a级毛片av无码,久久精品人人爽人人爽,国产r级在线播放,国产在线高清一区二区

          Home>News Center>World
                 
         

        Afghanistan holds first parliamentary vote in 30 years
        (AFP)
        Updated: 2005-09-18 11:43

        KABUL, (AFP) - Polls opened across Afghanistan for the country's first parliamentary elections in more than 30 years, after a campaign of violence by militants from the ousted Taliban who vowed to disrupt the vote.

        Around 12.5 million Afghans are eligible to choose a national assembly and provincial councils in the next phase of a difficult transition to democracy launched after the hardline Islamic regime fell in late 2001.

        On the ballot papers voters will find a cross section of Afghanistan's strife-torn society, including warlords, drug kingpins, mullahs and -- marking a step forward for the conservative country -- women.

        President Hamid Karzai, who won Afghanistan's first presidential election in October 2004, urged his countrymen and women to exercise their new democratic rights.

        "Your participation is an important, positive step towards a bright future," he said on national television late Saturday. "Attend the elections with full confidence and vote for your favourite candidate with total freedom."

        "The polling stations opened this morning at 6:00 am (0130 GMT)," Bronwyn Curran, spokeswoman for the United Nations-Afghan Joint Electoral Management Body, told AFP.

        The 26,000 polling stations, scattered from the parched southern deserts to the northern slopes of the Hindu Kush mountains, are due to close at 4:00 pm (1030 GMT).

        Officials say opening hours may be extended to allow for queues and delays as Afghans struggle with the newspaper-sized ballots required to fit in the 5,800 candidates taking part. Full results are not expected until late October.
        Page: 12



        Clinton Global Initiative Summit
        Schwarzenegger seeks re-election in 2006
        Suicide bombing kills at least 152 in Iraq
         
          Today's Top News     Top World News
         

        President Hu ends 10-day trip with call for co-operation

         

           
         

        China sets up new oil group to meet demands

         

           
         

        China's North Korea proposal hits snags

         

           
         

        Summit endorses watered-down UN reform

         

           
         

        Mainland population below 1.37 billion by 2010

         

           
         

        Music giants sue Baidu over music downloads

         

           
          Chavez: US plans to invade Venezuela
           
          Iran offers to bring foreign firms in program
           
          Two dead in Chicago train derailment
           
          Rescuers find 76-year-old survivor in New Orleans
           
          German election marks crossroads
           
          WHO warns of a world-wide bird flu epedemic
           
         
          Go to Another Section  
         
         
          Story Tools  
           
          News Talk  
          Are the Republicans exploiting the memory of 9/11?  
        Advertisement
                 
        a级毛片av无码
        • <nav id="c8c2c"></nav>
          • <tfoot id="c8c2c"><noscript id="c8c2c"></noscript></tfoot>
          • <tfoot id="c8c2c"><noscript id="c8c2c"></noscript></tfoot>
          • <nav id="c8c2c"><sup id="c8c2c"></sup></nav>
            <tr id="c8c2c"></tr>