A suicide bomber killed at least 14 people in Nangarhar Province, as more than 2,500 candidates campaign despite violence and political uncertainty.
JALALABAD, Afghanistan — A suicide bomber attacked an election rally on Tuesday in the eastern Afghan province of Nangarhar, killing at least 14 people and once again highlighting security concerns as candidates prepare for an Oct. 20 parliamentary vote amid a raging war.
The attack struck at a gathering of about 300 supporters of the candidate Nasir Mohmand in Nangarhar’s Kama district. Najibullah Kamawal, the province’s director of public health, said at least 43 others were wounded. Officials feared the toll could rise.
Mr. Mohmand survived, but with more than two weeks until Election Day, at least other seven candidates have already been killed across Afghanistan.
Nangarhar has seen a drastic increase in violence in recent years, with the emergence of the Islamic State, which has its foothold in the province, adding to insecurity caused by the Taliban. Corruption and a heavy infiltration of mafia have complicated the situation, so much so that after back-to-back suicide bombings in the provincial capital, Jalalabad, the government recently changed all senior police officials and handed control of security to the army.
The parliamentary election, delayed by three years, comes amid rising violence nationwide. Nearly half of Afghan territory is controlled or influenced by a resurgent Taliban, forcing one-third of the polling stations to remain shut on Election Day. The Islamic State continues to claim deadly attacks in urban centers.
A political crisis has also clouded the electoral process ahead of the vote, with political parties and the government clashing over what the parties fear is a government attempt to commit fraud regarding the number of people registered to vote.
At least four provinces showed more than 100 percent of their estimated eligible voters registering, according to data from the election commission. Despite the poor security and voter fatigue because of flawed previous elections, the commission announced that about nine million people had registered to vote.
Arguments over the voter rolls set off months of disagreements among the government, political parties and the election organizing body. Finally the parties’ demand that voters be verified biometrically — mostly through fingerprints — was agreed to, but only after the parties had shut down several election offices across the country.
Still, whether the crisis has genuinely been averted is unclear, as some are skeptical about the technical feasibility of rolling out biometric machines across about 21,00 polling stations in just a couple of weeks.
Nevertheless, 2,565 candidates, 417 of them women, are taking risks to campaign this month, putting up posters and holding rallies. A large number of the candidates are young first-timers who are campaigning to change a Parliament notorious for its corruption.
