Glitches annoy Afghan voters in historic polls

An Afghan woman (C) has her finger marked with ink by an election official as she prepares to vote at a polling station in Mazar-i-Sharif yesterday. Afghans are voting for a parliament for the first time in more than 30 years amid high turnout to put the war-weary nation on the path towards democracy. PHOTO: AFP

But the hitches reported soon after voting got under way at 6:00 am (0130 GMT) were minor compared with a row over supposedly indelible ink used to mark voters' fingers that nearly scuppered last year's presidential polls.

In the western city of Herat dozens of women were turned away from a polling centre because their voting cards had been marked wrongly during the October 2004 presidential election that elected Hamid Karzai.

"All of my family is here and we all have this problem," 70-year-old Kobra Zamimi, who led 14 female relatives to a polling station, told AFP.

"They punched our card in the wrong place last year when we voted for Karzai," Zamimi said before she and her relatives returned home without voting.

The cards were meant to have been punched at the top and middle in last year's election, she said. This year they were supposed to be punched in the bottom lefthand corner.

"Last year I voted for Karzai in the same place and now when I want to come and vote no one will let me," said Habiba, who like many Afghans only goes by one name, after she had a similar mistake on her voting card.

The problem was resolved later when election workers were told to allow people with wrongly marked cards to vote if their fingers were clear of the indelible ink used to show they had voted.

Electoral officials said the problem had not emerged at other polling centres.

Polling stations also opened late in parts of the country, leaving voters waiting in the early morning cold.

"I am a disabled person, it is difficult for me to stand out here," said Ahmed, 44, a voter in the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif after his polling station opened 45 minutes late.

A polling station opened nearly two hours late in the eastern province of Nangarhar while there were also delays in the capital Kabul, witnesses said.