Reports of violence and kidnapping spread from Afghanistan’s west to east, although the capital, Kabul, was relatively quiet as security forces imposed a clampdown.

Noor Mohammad Noor, a spokesman for Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission (IEC), said a candidate had been kidnapped in eastern Laghman province. The Taleban claimed responsibility for the abduction.

Qari Safiullah, another candidate in western Herat, had been missing for the past three days along with three campaign workers, Safiullah’s family said.

Eight IEC officials and 10 campaign workers were kidnapped in northwestern Badghis province.

The rash of abductions came despite security preparations being ramped up across the country before the vote, a key test after a deeply flawed presidential ballot last year, and will likely test the resolve of voters in the face of Taleban threats.

“We should try to do our best under the current circumstances. It is very important that the Afghan people come out and vote,” Afghan President Hamid Karzai said.

Almost 300,000 Afghan soldiers and police will guard the poll, backed up by almost 150,000 foreign troops. On Thursday, the Taleban renewed its threat to attack foreign and Afghan targets and urged voters to stay at home.

In northern Kunduz, Afghan and NATO-led troops killed a Taleban commander who was planning election attacks, the coalition said. A mosque to be used as a polling station was hit by rocket fire in Logar, south of Kabul, IEC officials said.

In southern Kandahar province, the focal point of the fight against the Taleban, coalition troops killed another three Taleban insurgents in the Arghandab district, a key area near Kandahar city.

Observers fear security worries could lead to a low voter turnout, as it did last year when the Taleban staged dozens of attacks but failed to disrupt the process entirely.

The United Nations’ top diplomat in Afghanistan, Staffan de Mistura, has said a turnout of between 5 million and 7 million out of Afghanistan’s roughly 11.4 million registered voters would be considered a success. The election is also a test of credibility for Karzai after last year’s poll, which HE won despite a third of his votes being thrown out as fakes.

Last year’s election and the possibility of more widespread fraud have left an underlying cynicism among many voters who feel the system benefits only the political elite.

“Democracy, what’s that?” said Darya Khan, a 40-year-old driver. “I’m not going to vote, the people who get elected are just in it for themselves. They are not working to benefit the country, they are not thinking about the poor.”