KABUL: Concerns grew about intimidation and fraud in Afghanistan`s parliamentary election as the Tuesday deadline for complaints about the conduct of Afghanistan`s parliamentary elections approached.

Millions of Afghans voted Saturday in their second parliamentary poll since the 2001 US-led invasion overthrew the Taliban regime, against a backdrop of insurgent threats and attacks.

With counting under way and the first preliminary results expected on Wednesday, the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) was gathering reports of irregularities so that final results can be certified by October 31.

The ECC said 702 complaints were received in the first day after polling closed, but that number could "significantly rise" before a 72-hour deadline for submissions expired at 4:00 pm on Tuesday.

Afghanistan`s main election observer body, the Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan (FEFA) which fielded almost 7,000 observers across the country, said some were prevented from carrying out their duties.

In its first report since the vote, FEFA said fake voter cards were found in 352 polling centres, while multiple or underage voting was witnessed at a quarter of sites.

Election officials said 5,355 polling centres opened on election day but that around 1,200 remained shut because security was poor.

Some polling centres opened late, and there were widespread allegations of bias by election workers, as well as problems with indelible ink -- supposed to guard against a person voting more than once -- that could be washed off.

FEFA called on the Independent Election Commission (IEC) to cooperate with the ECC in "investigations of fraud and coercion and to resist political pressure to announce the final results early without full verification of legitimate votes".

The IEC acknowledged in a statement that some fraud was "inevitable" and said it was "fully committed to working with the ECC to eliminate the effect from the final results insofar as possible."

President Hamid Karzai, whose own re-election last year was mired in fraud, has cancelled a trip to the UN General Assembly in New York to monitor the outcome of the polls, his spokesman told reporters.

Afghanistan is one of the most corrupt countries in the world and irregularities had been expected after last year`s presidential poll in which more than a million votes were cancelled as fraudulent.

Some 2,500 candidates are vying for 249 seats in the lower house of parliament, the Wolesi Jirga.

The IEC said early figures showed four million people had voted, putting turnout at 40 percent of those able to vote -- where polling stations opened.

In last year`s presidential election, turnout was estimated at 38.8 percent, according to IEC figures.

US State Department spokesman Mark Toner praised Afghanistan on the conduct of the election.

"We believe the Afghan people can be proud that millions of their citizens, courageous men and women, went to the polls, exercised their democratic right to vote, despite repeated threats and intimidation by the Taliban," he said.

NATO said at least 22 people were killed in polling day violence and there were a total pf 294 insurgent attacks on Saturday.

In Washington, Pentagon spokesman Colonel David Lapan said commanders on the ground believed insurgent attacks were down by around a third on the 2009 presidential election.

"Less than one percent of the polling stations experienced significant violence," he said, adding: "Most of the attacks that we saw during the elections were small arms fire, rocket propelled grenades... There were only a few IEDs, there were no effective suicide bombers."

The Taliban released a statement saying it had disrupted the poll enough to cause it to "fail."

"The Afghan Islamic Emirate congratulates this achievement," said the statement, using the name of the Taliban`s shadow government.

The United States and NATO`s International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) have around 150,000 troops in the country fighting to bring an end to the war, which is dragging towards its 10th year.

US General David Petraeus, commander of the international force in Afghanistan, has commended the role played by Afghan forces, who were supported by ISAF troops in providing security for the vote.

BDST: 0520HRS, September 21, 2010