KABUL, Sept. 28 -- Millions of Afghans have defied Taliban threats and used their rights to vote on Saturday in a one-day presidential election to elect their country's new president through ballots amid tight security.
Polling centers in cities and villages opened at 7:00 a.m. local time (0230 GMT) and continued till 5:00 p.m. local time (1230 GMT) in the country's 34 provinces, officials with the election commission said.
The voting process initially was to end at 3:00 p.m. local time but extended for two more hours to enable the voters to use their franchise, head of the election commission Hawa Alam Nuristani told reporters.
It is the fourth presidential election in Afghanistan since 2001, when the Taliban regime was ousted from power.
Over 9.4 million eligible voters, 35 percent of them women, registered to cast their votes in Saturday's polling.
Fourteen out of the 18 registered contesters are vying for the presidency with a five-year term and among the candidates are sitting President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani and government Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah. Four candidates have withdrawn from the race in favor of one candidate.
Security remains the biggest challenge for the election. The Taliban outfit has vowed to disrupt the election process. A number of security incidents have been reported from across the country.
Meanwhile, the security forces' fighting planes in crackdowns on militants have killed 25 armed insurgents in the northern Balkh and eastern Logar provinces since Friday to ensure security for the election process.
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