Afghan polls protesters warn of possible violence

Disgruntled lawmakers and candidates in Afghanistan's parliamentary election, marred by allegations of fraud, renewed protests on Sunday over the poll and warned of possible violence if a fresh vote was not carried out. No results have been declared nearly seven weeks after the election. The protests are another sign of political instability in Afghanistan, already facing a growing Taliban-led insurgency. Joined by hundreds of supporters, the candidates and members of parliament who had sought re-election in Kabul denounced the September 18 election as illegal and urged a new poll. They marched from the palace of President Hamid Karzai past U.N. headquarters to deliver a resolution to the U.S. embassy. "We said that the results of the election will further worsen Afghanistan's security and force millions of people to head to the mountains" to take up arms, lawmaker Daoud Sultanzoy, an outspoken critic of Karzai's government, told Reuters after the demonstration. "We said this election should be scrapped." A small group of candidates held a similar protest in Jalalabad, about 150 km (95 miles) east of Kabul. They denounced the vote as fraudulent and warned that the new parliament could be seen as illegitimate but did not call for another election.