People carry an injured man at a local hospital in Shiberghan city, the capital of northern Jawzjan province, Afghanistan, on Oct. 21, 2018. At least 27 people including 11 security forces members were killed and 100 others wounded in 192 security incidents, including 89 attacks on polling centers across the country, according to Afghan Ministry of Interior Affairs. (Xinhua/Mohammad Jan Aria)
KABUL, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- Polling for Afghanistan's parliamentary elections continued on Sunday as voters who failed to cast their ballots Saturday were visiting hundreds of polling centers in different provinces, authorities said.
More than 2,500 candidates are contesting for the Wolesi Jirga or the 249-seat lower house of the parliament.
Election officials initially planned to hold the polls in one day and set up 4,900 polling centers including over 20,000 polling stations across the country, according to Independent Election Commission (IEC).
However, about 400 polling centers, including 45 polling centers in national capital of Kabul, remained close due to technical problems and security threats on Saturday, the IEC said in a statement earlier Sunday.
The long-delayed elections covered 32 out of the country's 34 provinces. Voting in Kandahar and Ghazni provinces has been postponed due to security reasons. Sunday's election covered 14 provinces.
On Saturday, over 3 million used their franchise to elect lawmakers for the new parliament, said IEC statement.
Most of the candidates stand independently as the country did not have many regular and standard political parties.
It was not immediately known how many of the 400 planned polling centers were opened Sunday amid absence of official information.
Earlier on Sunday, local villagers found the bodies of four election observers in Nahri Shahi district of northern Balkh province. The victims were kidnapped by militants on Saturday.
On first day of polls, 27 people including 11 security forces members were killed and 100 others wounded in 192 security incidents, including 89 attacks on polling centers across the country, according to Afghan Ministry of Interior Affairs.
However, some sources said that 67 people were killed and 126 others wounded in election-related violence and blasts and clashes across the country.
Nearly 9 million voters, out of 12 million eligible Afghans, were registered to cast their ballots and elect their lawmakers for a five-year term.
