Afghan elections 'a success' despite low turnout

Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission (IEC) have called Saturday's parliamentary elections a success despite security incidents and irregularities and low voter turnout.

Taliban attacks killed 14 and attempts at vote-rigging were reported across the country. While there was less violence, attacks were more widespread than during a deeply flawed presidential vote last year and reached into once peaceful areas.

The election was being closely watched in Washington ahead of US President Barack Obama's planned war strategy review in December, which will likely examine the pace and scale of troop withdrawals after nine years of war.

The IEC said 4,632 polling stations opened out of the planned 6,835. The rest were shut due to security concerns.

The Taliban, which had threatened to disrupt the vote, said on their web site after polls closed they had conducted more than 150 attacks, fewer than the 272 blamed on insurgents during last year's presidential poll.

Their threats appeared to have had an impact, with less than four million votes cast, according to preliminary figures released by the IEC. Afghanistan has 11 million registered voters.