From the southern plains to the Hindu Kush mountains and northern steppes of the impoverished Islamic nation, millions of Afghans turned out Saturday to choose a leader for the first time, despite threats by Taliban rebels to sabotage the election.

The largest group of independent poll observers, the Free and Fair Election Foundations of Afghanistan (FEFA) which is made up of 13 local non-governmental organizations, said the vote was fair despite the complaints.

"The large participation of Afghans is an encouraging sign of people's participation in the democratic process," it said.

But midway through Saturday, all 15 rivals of U.S.-backed interim president Hamid Karzai had announced they were boycotting the poll because a system to prevent voting fraud had failed.

Many demanded a new vote but Karzai, the favorite to win, rejected the demand.

At issue was indelible ink put on the finger of everyone who voted to stop them voting again. Some election workers used the wrong pen to mark voters, and the ordinary marker ink was quickly washed off.

And with questions over the late and rapid registration of 10.5 million voter cards in a population of about 28 million, there were accusations of illegal multiple voting.

"While the reasons for the incorrectly applied indelible ink remain to be seen, a fairly democratic environment has generally been observed in the overall majority of polling centers," FEFA said.

Karzai said the wishes of the people had to be respected.

"I would advise my fellow countrymen, the 15 other candidates, that we must all respect the fact that millions of Afghans came out on foot, in rain and snow and dust and waited for hours to vote," he said.

"Just because 15 people have said 'No', we can't deny the votes of millions."

COUNTING TO GO AHEAD
Before the election, the main worry had been the threat posed by the Islamic fundamentalist Taliban guerrillas and their vow to sabotage the poll.

But there was only some scattered election-related violence. The Interior Ministry said 10 members of the security forces had been killed in the violence while 25 militants were killed in a firefight in restive Uruzgan province.

"The millions who came to the polls clearly wanted to turn from the rule of the gun to the rule of law," said the Organization for Security and Cooperation of Europe, which had 40 experts accredited.

"The validity of election results should be dealt with as the law provides. The candidates' demand to nullify the election is unjustified," the OSCE said.

The Joint Election Management Body of UN and Afghan experts were to investigate the irregularities over the ink. But it said vote counting, likely to begin Monday after ballot boxes are collected yesterday, would go ahead.

In Kabul's main Pul-i Khisti bazaar, back to its usual chaos after the vote, opinions about the poll were divided.

"I'm happy for what happened yesterday," said Mohammad Yousuf, his turban and shawl framing his bearded face. "And to the person I voted for, I am appealing to him to please look after our country and help the poor."

But another man, Nasir Ahmad, said: "It is clear that yesterday's elections were fraudulent and illegal because a person can only vote once, not five times. They should hold another election."

Saturday's vote came three years after U.S.-led forces invaded Afghanistan to oust the Taliban regime for harbouring Osama bin Laden, architect of the Sept. 11 attacks.

President Bush, facing his own election battle next month, has claimed the Afghan vote as a foreign policy success and is hoping it can be mirrored in Iraq.

"Today's an appropriate day for Americans to remember and thank the men and women of our armed forces who liberated Afghanistan," Bush said as he campaigned in St. Louis on Saturday.

He did not mention the poll boycott.

But the wait for a ruling on irregularities will be worrying for a nation made up of a patchwork of ethnic groups and often warring tribes.

"The greater risk during the counting period is probably the danger of rumor and conspiracy theories taking hold," said Thomas Muller, an analyst at the Afghan Research and Evaluation Unit think tank.

"And the problem with the ink yesterday is a prime example of where a problem occurs and it snowballs into a large issue."

Karzai is an ethnic Pashtun, the country's largest ethnic group. His opponents include several commanders from ethnic minority communities who fought the Taliban and have a fearsome reputation for warfare, including Uzbek General Abdul Rashid Dostum and Tajik leader Yunus Qanuni.