Afghan polls on October 9

Afghanistan will hold a landmark presidential election on October 9, the United Nations said on Friday, despite widespread violence by Islamic militants who have vowed to derail its first direct vote.
But parliamentary polls, supposed to be at the same time, will be delayed until April, chairman of the UN-Afghan Joint Electoral Management Body Zakim Shah, announced on state TV.
Shah said conditions for elections would improve in the coming months but the electoral body called on the international community to step up security assistance. "These efforts will greatly enhance the legitimacy of the electoral process and the authority of future assemblies," he said.
The US-backed government of President Hamid Karzai had hoped to hold both elections in June, then September, but logistical problems and security worries forced delays.
The White House issued a statement saying that President Bush welcomed the scheduling of the elections as "a critical step forward in Afghanistan's transition to democracy".
Shah said that political parties, scholars, tribal elders and others feared a drive to disarm factional militias was going too slowly to allow early parliamentary elections.
He said the JEMB had considered delaying both polls but concluded "that the interests of stability would not have been served by further postponement."
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan welcomed the timing of both polls.
The Taleban and allied militants have vowed to disrupt what are billed not only as Afghanistan's first-ever free polls but also a crucial test of US nation-building efforts.
KARZAI SEEN AS FAVORITE: Karzai is widely seen as presidential favourite.
But at least a dozen rivals have indicated intention to challenge him. With voting expected to go along ethnic lines, a fractured vote could force a run-off.
More than 6 million of an electorate of some 10 million have registered to vote, but militant attacks and slow militia disarmament have raised concerns about how free voting can be.
Some argue that concerns are sufficient to delay both polls.
"We were of the view that both elections should have been delayed since we have insecurity in the south and we have been witnessing a build-up of tensions in the north, too," said Mohammad Mohaqiq, who plans to run against Karzai.
But Abdul Hafiz Mansoor, a senior member of the Northern Alliance faction, called the delay in the parliamentary election "unconstitutional" since polls are meant to be simultaneous.
Analysts say Bush wants a foreign policy success in Afghanistan to balance his problems in Iraq ahead of his own November re-election bid.