<p><br /> Around 19 people, including a candidate and eight election officials, have been kidnapped in Afghanistan on the eve of a parliamentary vote which the Taliban have vowed to disrupt, an election official has said.<br /> </p><p><br /> Independent Election Commission (IEC) spokesman Noor Mohammad Noor said a candidate had been kidnapped in eastern Laghman province but the circumstances were not clear. He said eight IEC officials had been abducted in northwestern Badghis but were safe.<br /> </p><p><br /> Noor said officials were checking reports ten campaign workers had also been abducted in the same area.<br /> </p><p><br /> Both the Taliban and Hizb-i-Islami, an insurgent group under the leadership of warlord and former Afghan Prime Minister Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, have criticised the elections and urged people to stay home.<br /> </p><p><br /> Saturday's poll is the first since a fraud-marred presidential vote last year that left many of the Afghan government's international backers questioning whether they had a reliable partner in President Hamid Karzai.<br /> </p><p><br /> Polling station lists were only released a few days before the vote because of continually changing reports from security forces about areas they could secure.<br /> </p>
