Afghans poised for presidential poll

Published April 4, 2014
Outgoing president Hamid Karzai urges all Afghans to vote in April 5 election. - Video by Reuters

Afghans are expecting trouble when voting gets underway in Saturday's presidential elections.

The Taliban's pledged to disrupt the polls through a campaign of bombings and killings.

Outgoing President Hamid Karzai is urging the nation to respond to the threat by making sure they turn out to vote.

Security's been beefed up in the capital on the eve of the election.

A day earlier ballot boxes started arriving at polling stations around the country.

There are nearly 28, 500 polling centres.

At least ten per cent are expected to be closed because of security threats.

The vote will be monitored by around 200, 000 Afghan observers but , again, security fears are likely make their spread across the country uneven.

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