Afghan polling stations have closed after nearly 10 hours of voting that saw a massive turnout, including in some of the most dangerous areas of the country.
Electoral workers pulled the paper ballots out of boxes and carefully showed them in footage shown live on national television Saturday.
Partial results are expected as soon as Sunday.
Afghans flocked to polling stations nationwide on Saturday, defying a threat of violence by the Taliban to cast ballots in what promises to be the nation’s first democratic transfer of power.
The turnout was so high that some polling centres ran out of ballots.
The turnout for Afghanistan's presidential election could exceed seven million, the head of the Independent Election Commission said.
Ahmad Yusuf Nuristani said that an estimated 3.5 million people had voted by midday (0830 GMT), five hours after polls opened, 64% of them men and 36% women.
“This figure may have increased to more than seven million by 5pm,” he told a news conference.