Notmuch violence, lots of votes to count

Millions of Afghans turn out to choose president

kabul » They huddled in the rain under plastic sheeting. They ignored death threats and rattling firefights. After weeks of violence and tension, Afghan men and women turned out in larger numbers than expected Saturday to choose a president to lead them into the postAmerican era in Afghanistan.

Conducted under armed guard, the country’s third presidential election since the overthrowof theTaliban in 2001 unfolded without the large-scale attacks or major disruptions. As the processnowmoves to a vote count that could take weeks and, potentially, to a secondround runoff, voters and observers expressed relief that the day had ended in relative peace.

“The turnoutwas far beyond what we had imagined,” said Zia ul-Haq Amarkhail, a senior Afghan election official.

The election bringsAfghanistan a step closer to the first peaceful and democratic transfer of power in the modern history of the country, where presidents and kings more often leave dead or deposed. And for the first time since Sept. 11, and violence had been large enough to change the outcome.

The most obvious early problems in Saturday’s election were that some polling stations appeared to run out of ballots and that in rural areas where the insurgency is strong, many people were too frightened to vote.

Before the vote, polling suggested a tight race. Of the eight candidates, the palace and Karzai’s inner circle pushed ZalmayRassoul, a French-educated physician and former national security adviser and foreign minister.

But Abdullah Abdullah, another former foreign minister, and Ashraf Ghani, a former financeminister andWorldBank official, attracted large crowds at their rallies. If none of them wins more than 50 percent of the vote, the two top finishers will face off in a second round, which could come next month.

Throughout the day, reports of violence came in from the provinces. Interior Minister Omar Daudzai said Saturday afternoon that there had been 140 attacks across the country in the previous 24 hours and that nine police officers, seven soldiers and 89 insurgents had been killed.