The European Union called on the Afghan people to defy the Taliban and cast their ballots in Thursday's presidential elections, as a team of about 100 EU observers kept a watchful eye on the voting process, according to dpa. "We encourage the Afghan people to go out and vote on this very important day, which sets the path towards democracy for the Afghan nation and its people," European Commission spokesman John Clancy said in Brussels. Clancy confirmed that EU monitors were operative and that none of them had been injured in any attack. Afghan officials had earlier confirmed that rockets fired by Taliban insurgents had hit the capitals of at least four provinces. Sporadic shooting was also heard in Kabul, but no casualties were reported. About 17 million Afghans are eligible to vote, among them President Hamid Karzai, the frontrunner in the presidential race, who cast his vote at a polling station near the presidential palace in Kabul early in the day. Turnout was low in the morning, but more voters had turned out in the afternoon, reports out of Kabul said. The EU has the largest international observer mission in Afghanistan. Headed by Philippe Morillon, a former French general and now a member of the European Parliament, the mission has been monitoring the election campaign and is now focussing on polling, counting and tallying the results. It plans to condemn any serious breach of electoral rules and procedures, with a preliminary statement from Morillon expected on Saturday at 1030 Afghan time. So far, its biggest worry has been with proxy voting, with such concerns fuelled by a suspiciously high rate of registration of female voters in traditionally conservative parts of the country. Despite being escorted by Afghan and NATO forces, the monitors have not been deployed throughout the country owing to the precarious security situation. "Obviously, there are places where we cannot, but we have adapted our methodology to collect information from areas where we have less or no access," Agnes Doka, a mission spokeswoman, told the German Press Agency dpa earlier this week.
