A/HRC/13/62 north-eastern regions. Thirty one civilians, including 11 election officials, were reportedly killed on polling day. 50. Many Afghans were not able to exercise their right to vote due to insecurity. Coupled with dissatisfaction with public institutions, only one third of registered voters, a figure which is significantly lower than for the 2004 and 2005 elections, are understood to have gone to the polls. Voter participation was regionally diverse: turnout was low in the conflict-affected areas in the south and south-east, and higher in more secure areas such as the central highlands, northern, western and north-eastern regions. The freedom of voters to choose a candidate was inhibited by the conduct of candidates, their agents and local commanders, as well as some officials from the Independent Election Commission (IEC) and the Government, directing or intimidating voters at polling centres. 51. Women’s right to vote and to stand for election to public office was severely limited due to social and cultural norms, and the insecure environment. Some female candidates received death threats, and in the more conservative areas were unable to move beyond their home base to campaign, restricted instead to door-to-door canvassing in private groups and using business cards instead of photographs. Female candidates also had limited access to funds for their campaign activities. On polling day itself, there were considerably fewer women than men at polling stations. Threats, harassment and attacks on women participating in public life and the discriminatory Shia Personal Status Law, which came into force prior to the elections, are examples of the impediments facing women in Afghan society. 52. Most public rallies were concentrated in provincial capitals and there was unequal media coverage of presidential candidates by Radio Television Afghanistan (RTA), the public service broadcaster. A National Security Council order to domestic and international media agencies to refrain from reporting any violence on polling day, coupled with the arrest of a number of journalists also restricted media coverage. 53. Despite a series of anti-fraud mitigating measures prepared in advance of 20 August, and the deployment of independent observers throughout the country, allegations of fraud and irregularities were overwhelming on polling day. These included allegations of ballot box stuffing, proxy voting, under age voting and voters using multiple registration cards. Insecurity prevented observers from going to a number of polling stations in the southern, south-eastern, eastern and central regions from which a large number of the complaints of fraud and irregularities emanated. 54. The high level of insecurity, extensive fraud and protracted delays in announcing the results damaged the integrity of the 2009 elections, and increased disillusionment among Afghans with both the electoral process and their Government. A large number of voters and candidates did not regard the elections and their results as credible. Many voters, in particular women, were, in effect, disenfranchised. B. Freedom of expression 55. The violence, intimidation and harassment to which journalists and media workers continued to be subjected in 2009, at the behest of the Government or at the hands of the armed opposition, impacted on freedom of expression in Afghanistan. Journalists continued to face criminal prosecution for expressing dissenting political and religious opinions: for example, six journalists from a Kabul-based newspaper were arrested after the newspaper published an article questioning the divine revelation of religion. A former journalist sentenced in 2008 to 20 years’ imprisonment for publishing a translation of the Holy Koran alleged to contain errors, continued to languish in prison. GE.10-10230 13