**The candidates in Afghanistan’s presidential election are making their final appeals to voters on the last day of campaigning before Thursday’s poll.**The election is taking place amid mounting violence in the country, with Taliban militants threatening to harm anyone who takes part.
There are fears that the turnout could be low as a result.
However a BBC correspondent says western officials believe democracy is taking root in the country.
This is despite recent militant attacks.
‘Normal election’
The incumbent, President Hamid Karzai, is facing more than 30 challengers, including two of his former ministers.
The candidates have spent the last day allowed for campaigning trying to garner as many votes as possible.
The BBC’s Ian Pannell in Afghanistan says that the effort to win votes has all the trappings of a normal election.
“So far everything is going according to our plans and there is no major security incident”
Zakria Barakazi
Deputy Chief Electoral Officer, Independent Electoral Commission
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There have been rallies, posters and adverts, our correspondent says, and on Sunday night there was even a presidential debate on television.
But most Afghans are poor, illiterate and are living in the countryside, far from the glow of this campaign, he adds.
There are concerns that turnout could be low.
Our correspondent says that there is evidence of corruption but above all it is the ongoing war with the Taliban - within at least a third of the country - that makes this election far from normal.
The insurgents have vowed to disrupt the poll and have threatened to harm anyone who takes part.
But having invested so heavily in terms of time, money and even lives, western officials are likely to declare the vote a success - whatever the flaws and challenges.
In Sunday’s live televised election debate, Mr Karzai was challenged about his alliances with warlords.
He was taken to task by two rival candidates, ex-ministers Ramazan Bashardost and Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai.
But Mr Karzai defended his alliances in the 90-minute discussion, saying they served the interests of national unity.
Meanwhile, Abdul Rashid Dostum, an ex-warlord who was Mr Karzai’s military chief-of-staff, has returned to Kabul from Turkey, where he has been living in exile since last year.
The United Nations and the United States both expressed concern at the timing of his return and any prospective role he may have in government.