Afghans to march to Kabul in election protest

Thousands of people are set to march some 150 km towards the Afghan capital of Kabul to protest against the results of last year's parliamentary elections, the Pajhwok news agency said on Tuesday. Around 6,000 protestors, many of them armed, have set off from the city of Maidan Shar, the administrative center of the central Wardak province, to Kabul. "Police in Kabul have been put on full combat alert and are ready to repel any attempt to violate break the law, provoke clashes with police and create any other problems in the city," a police spokesman said. Ahead of the march, thousands gathered in the center of Maidan Shar for a rally led by losing candidates in last October's elections. The recent parliamentary elections in Afghanistan were marred by massive fraud and bribery among the election officials. The Special Election Tribunal ruled that 62 lawmakers in the parliament acquired their seats by fraud. However, only nine of them have lost their seats so far. Lawmaker Daoud Sultanzoy, a losing candidate who eventually received a parliamentary seat, said the police will try to prevent the protestors from entering Kabul by all means, and armed clashes between police and protestors are likely.