Despite widespread threats of violence by the Taliban, the people of Afghanistan have gone to the polls. In the nation's first transition of power via election since the Taliban was overthrown, Afghans remain confident in the elections and a large majority has gone to the polls, ignoring Taliban threats as well as other shortcomings plaguing the elections. If it all succeeds, Afghanistan will have a new president within a short time.

Eight candidates have declared their candidacy for the presidency to replace Hamid Karzai, who is constitutionally prevented from running a third time, according to BBC News. Over 400,000 police officers and soldiers have been summoned to protect citizens on this crucial day, the largest movement of troops since the invasion of the country more than a decade ago.

Ziaul Haq Amarkhel, secretary of the Afghan Independent Electoral Comission (IEC), said that by 5:00 p.m. local time, when the polls closed, an estimated 7 million people had voted out of an estimated 12 million eligible voters, states BBC News. Also, those who remained in line after closing will be allowed to vote.

Despite the recent violence and corruption leading to the elections, Afghans remain hopeful, as do what few observers remain in the war-stricken nation. According to the BBC, one of the problems encountered during the election was a shortage of paper ballots, though Secretary Amarkhel denies the allegations. It was expected to see violence and complications on election day but hope may prevail.

"Overall our assessment is that the elections are particularly advanced in regard to the adequacy of the preparations," said Nicholas Haysom, deputy head of the United Nations in Afghanistan to The Guardian. "We noted and Afghans have, [that there is] considerably greater interest in the actual campaigns and people's positions, in the political debates, than we've probably ever seen in Afghanistan before."

The BBC reports that ahead of the elections, police established checkpoints around the capital of Kabul. Despite of the extra security, 10 percent of polling centers were deemed insecure to open. Violent exchanges between Taliban and Afghan forces happened three times but the biggest concern is fraud.

According to Al Jazeera, some international observers have left the country amid fears of violence, leaving a group of mostly Afghan observers to watch over the elections. Hassan Wafaey, a political analyst and researcher interviewed by Al Jazeera, explains that without the international observers Afghans may question the legitimacy of the elections and the new government.

"The role of international observers will be very important in the upcoming elections because of the experience with corruption in previous elections," Wafaey said.