Successful elections in Afghanistan

Again:

CANDIDATES: About 2,760 ran for 249 seats in Wolesi Jirga, parliament’s lower house; 68 seats reserved for women and 10 for Kuchi nomads. More than 3,015 candidates competed for 420 seats in 34 provincial councils; quarter of those seats reserved for women.

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VOTING: 12.5 million registered voters, nearly 42 percent women. Ballots cast at 6,270 polling centers. Some 40 million printed ballots ranged from one to seven pages. Because many Afghans are illiterate, ballots featured photographs and symbols of candidates.

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SECURITY: 55,000 Afghan police and 28,000 soldiers secured polling stations. U.S.-led coalition force of 20,000 soldiers and NATO peacekeeping mission of 11,000 provided backup.

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RESULTS: Counting begins Tuesday, and partial provisional results to be released once 20 percent of ballots in a province are tallied, which could be day or two later. Complete provisional results expected around Oct. 4-6 and certified results around Oct. 20-22.

Lt. Smash has some great photos from the election posted (hat tip: Dean).