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 KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Only about one-third of Kabul's registered voters cast ballots in legislative elections, an official said Thursday — a turnout that suggests disillusionment with the U.S.-backed government and the pace of rebuilding after a quarter-century of war.
Reports from nearly all polling centers across Afghanistan indicate some 6.6 million voters cast ballots, which would put national turnout at about 53 percent, said Peter Erben, chief electoral officer of the U.N.-Afghan body that organized the polls. But he estimated turnout in Kabul and the surrounding province was just 36 percent.
The indication that national turnout dropped significantly from 70 percent in last October's presidential election had already become a needling footnote to the international community's celebratory script, which cast Afghanistan's first elections for a national assembly in more than three decades as a key step toward democracy.
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