Countdown begins for Afghanistan presidential vote

People in Afghanistan will cast their votes on Saturday to elect a new president in the third race since the US-led invasion of the country in 2001.

Eight candidates are contending in the election as Afghans prepare to choose a successor to outgoing President Hamid Karzai who is constitutionally barred from seeking a third term.

Opinion polls show that former Afghan foreign ministers, Abdullah Abdullah and Zalmai Rassoul, and former finance minister, Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, are the frontrunners.

Afghanistan’s Independent Elections Commission (IEC) has by now delivered all election material to over 6,000 polling stations across the country.

Officials say 352,000 security forces have been deployed to provide security during the vote.

However, according to the IEC, nearly 750 voting stations will remain closed over security concerns.

Security has remained a top priority across the country after Taliban militants vowed to disrupt the vote.

There have already been frequent attacks in recent days in the run-up to the presidential election.

On Wednesday, a bomber wearing a military uniform detonated his explosives at the crowded entrance of the Interior Ministry compound, killing at least six police officers and injuring several others.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack.

On March 25, the militants broke into an IEC office in Kabul and killed five people.

Violence in Afghanistan has been on the rise in recent years, despite the prolonged presence of foreign forces in the war-torn country since the US-led invasion in 2001.