Voters in Afghanistan are going to the polls today to elect a president as well as provincial councils in 34 provinces, where 3,000 candidates are contesting 42 council seats. The front runners in the election are incumbent President Hamid Karzai and former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, who some say will pose a strong challenge. Polls give President Karzai around 45 percent of the vote and Mr Abdullah 25 percent. A run-off election will be held in October if no candidate receives 50 percent of the vote.

President Karzai is a member of the country's largest ethnic group, the Pashtun. Mr Abdullah's father is Pashtun, but he has a Tajik mother which will help attract votes from Afghanistan's second-largest ethnic group.

Taliban militants have threatened to disrupt the election, saying they sent 20 suicide bombers to the capital Kabul. In Helmand province the militants warned potential voters that anyone found with indelible ink on their fingers would have it cut off.

Despite an order by the Afghan government banning the coverage of violence on election day, press agencies are, as usual, reporting attacks. Police in Kabul told reporters that two militants were killed in an exchange of fire with security forces in the east of the capital. There have also been reports of violence in other parts of Afghanistan. Associated Press says that more than 20 rockets hit Lashkar Gar, the capital of the Helmand province, including one that landed near a queue of voters and killed a child.

The Chinese news agency Xinhua reports that the influence of former warlords plays a large role in the election. Former warlord Ismail Khan, an ethnic Tajik, recently announced his support for President Karzai to a group of supporters in Herat. Also, former Uzbek strongman Abdul Rashid Dostum returned from exile in Turkey on Monday and immediately announced his support for President Karzai. Many Afghan newspapers are cynical about the election, saying that warlords will in effect continue to rule the country irregardless of who wins.

See also Khaleej Times editorial: Another Vote Under the Gun.

www.khaleejtimes.com/displayarticle.asp

See also Daily Outlook Afghanistan editorial page:

www.outlookafghanistan.net/news_Pages/Editorial.html#02