Afghanistan election:

Donkeys forge path for democracy

AFGHANISTAN: Standing in a room full of ballot boxes, Afghan election officials are locked in debate over how many donkeys are needed to deliver voting papers to remote villages for Saturday's Parliamentary poll.

"I think we need four donkeys for every polling centre, right?" said Abdul Hameed, one of the field coordinators for the vote, who manages to win his three colleagues around after 10 minutes of careful calculation.

Donkeys play a central role in village life beasts of burden in a country that in many ways has remained unchanged for centuries.

As Afghanistan moves along the path towards democracy, donkeys are playing no less an important part in ensuring every eligible man and woman gets to cast their vote.

Around 10.5 million Afghans are eligible to vote for almost 2,500 candidates contesting 249 seats in the lower house of parliament, the Wolesi Jirga, in the war-torn country's second parliamentary poll in almost 40 years.

DARA, Friday, AFP