"Today is a magnificent day for Afghanistan," said Ali Safar, 62, standing in line to vote in the capital, Kabul. "We want dignity, we want stability and peace. Thirty years of war and poverty is enough."
Some 12.4 million Afghans were registered to vote at more than 6,000 polling stations, guarded by some 100,000 Afghan police and soldiers and 30,000 foreign troops.
Afghan and UN officials on Saturday urged voters to defy insurgents who have vowed to disrupt landmark legislative elections and expressed confidence that the vote will succeed.
Still, rebel violence persisted on the eve of Afghanistan's first parliamentary elections in more than 35 years, a vote seen as a key step toward stability after decades of war.
Top UN envoy Jean Arnault said extremists had failed to disrupt voter registration and "failed again to make a dent in the election campaign in the past three weeks," despite attacks that have killed candidates, electoral workers and potential voters.
"We are very confident that those extremists will also fail to disrupt and derail voting day," Arnault told a news conference. "The Afghans will not let anyone stop them from participating in this election."
Peter Erben, chief electoral officer of the joint UN-Afghan body conducting the election, said preparations were "well on track," although security and logistical problems would likely keep a few of the roughly 6,200 polling centers from opening.
He urged Afghans to be patient, saying "the very large number of candidates and the very large ballots in some places" could cause long lines at polling stations.
"There will, without doubt, be some imperfections in some places in Afghanistan," Erben said. "But we're hopeful that we'll be able to have a generally peaceful and orderly day, and that this day will lead to credible and accepted elected institutions in Afghanistan."
In an appeal to voters, Bismillah Bismil, chairman of the Joint Electoral Management Body, said the elections "are being carried out under extremely challenging security and logistical circumstances."
Amid killings, threats and concerns about pressure from powerful warlords, he assured voters their ballots would be secret.
"Do not be intimidated or frightened by the empty threats of those who attempt to influence your vote," Bismil said.
The elections of a parliament and provincial legislatures are the last formal step toward democracy on a path set out after a US-led force drove the hardline Taliban from power in 2001.
"We are seeing today an unmistakable confirmation that there is in the country the emergence of a new political culture," Arnault said. "A sense that the legacy of the rule of the gun can be resisted is now taking root."
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