Critical election in Afghanistan beset by chaos, violence at polls

KABUL — Afghanistan’s first parliamentary elections in eight years suffered from violence and confusion Saturday, with a multitude of attacks by militants killing at least 36 people, key election workers failing to show up and many polling stations staying open hours later than scheduled to handle long lines of voters.

Problems surrounding the elections — already three years overdue — threaten to compromise the credibility of polls, which an independent monitoring group said were also marred by incidences of ballot stuffing and intimidation by armed men affiliated with candidates in 19 of the country’s 32 provinces. Some areas have yet to vote, including Kandahar, where the provincial police chief was gunned down Thursday.