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Elections Abroad

Afghan Polls Close

Turnout low after Taliban threats.

cheats/2009/08/20/afghan-polls-close/afghanistan-election-voters_knaebj

Julie Jacobson / AP Photo

After 10 hours of voting, the polls have closed in Afghanistan’s presidential elections. The Taliban followed up on weeks of threats with gun, rocket, and suicide attacks throughout the country that left 26 people dead. Overall turnout is low—especially in the south, which bodes poorly for President Hamid Karzai. One official in Kandahar, the south’s largest city and birthplace of the Taliban, thought that turnout was 40 percent lower than the 2004 presidential election. Stronger turnout in the north should favor Karzai’s top rival, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah. Official results aren’t expected until Saturday.

Read it at Associated Press

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