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Afghan refugees yearn to vote in elections

by Reuters

In Afghanistan, election fever is gaining pitch with candidates wooing potential voters everyday.

But here at this refugee camp on the outskirts of Peshawar, April 5 will just be another ordinary day.

There are 80 camps like this across Pakistan home to some 1.6 million Afghan refugees.

But none of them will have a say in who will be the next leader of the country.

Many can't return home due to the violence for the April 5 polls. Others are just too poor.

(SOUNDBITE) (Pashto) AFGHAN REFUGEE HAJI SARBULAND SAYING:

"We are unable to go to Afghanistan. Therefore, it would be nice if an office is set up here. We will vote for whoever is a good candidate."

When incumbent president Hamid Karzai was voted into power in 2004, candidates ran lively campaigns in Pakistan, heralding a democratic rule after the fall of the Taliban.

But this time, the elections are a far away event on the other side of the border.

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