Out of more than nine million people who had registered to vote in Afghanistan, the statistics show that only a fifth participated in the presidential elections.

An election committee official announced on Sunday that based on unofficial numbers, a little over two million have participated in the election.

The Taliban militia forces attacked several voting offices across the country which left 5 dead and 37 injured. But increased security measures prevented heavy casualties that occurred during the last presidential election, during which over 60 people were killed in different attacks. For this reason, the Afghan government tasked 72 thousand security forces to provide security for almost five thousand voting stations across the country.

However, there is fear of unclear results due to the low turnout of Afghan voters and election complaints, which could lead the country into a crisis.

The massive boycott of the election by the people of Afghanistan, which show despair about the future of the country and a lack of trust in the candidates, could seriously hurt the legitimacy and the position of the future president.

However, after voting, President Ashraf Ghani said this election will allow us “to step toward peace with true legitimacy.”

He hopes to play a role as the next president of Afghanistan in the negotiations with the Taliban. But the breakdown of negotiations between the Taliban and the United States right before the elections have made the future of these negotiations even more unclear.

18 candidates participated in Afghanistan’s presidential elections, and if none of these candidates get over half the votes, the top two candidates with the most votes will move to the next round of elections.

The Taliban has issued a statement highlighting the mass boycott of the election by the people of Afghanistan, saying “this fraud election” is a defeat for the government of Kabul.