This archive report was first published on 29 September 2019.
On September 28, 2019, Afghans went to the polls to vote in the first round of a presidential election that would decide whether President Ashraf Ghani would win a second five-year term. The election was held at some 4,900 polling stations across the war-torn nation, with an estimated 9.6 million Afghans having registered to vote.
However, the turnout was significantly lower than expected, with an initial tally released by Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission showing that just under 1.1 million people had voted, representing a participation level of less than 25%. This was lower than any of Afghanistan's three previous presidential elections, including the 2014 election, which saw a turnout of around 50%.
The low turnout was attributed to security threats and scepticism about the electoral process. The Taliban had conducted a string of bombings at polling stations and engaged Afghan security forces in clashes across the country, resulting in over 400 reported attacks on election day.
Despite the security threats, election officials hailed the election as a success, citing the use of biometric fingerprint readers and better training for poll workers as ensuring a fair vote. However, the election campaign had been marred by allegations of vote-buying, ballot stuffing and fraud, which had undermined previous polls.
Political analysts attributed the low turnout to the weak campaigning of the candidates, who had only two months to campaign after US President Donald Trump scuppered talks with the Taliban on September 7. The election result is not expected until October 19, with candidates needing more than 50% of the vote to be declared the outright winner.
