The credibility of Afghanistans presidential election hangs in the balance today after Taleban threats and attacks severely depleted voter turnout, especially in the southern province of Helmand, and observers reported widespread electoral fraud. The Times has learnt that turnout in Helmand was as low as eight per cent and fewer than 150 people cast ballots in the district where British forces launched Operation Panthers Claw in June to allow 80,000 more people to vote. UN, Nato, American and Afghan officials hailed the election as a success last night, saying the Taleban had failed to disrupt a poll seen as a test of President Karazais popularity and international efforts to build democracy. But evidence from observers, electoral officials and polling stations visited by The Times suggests that turnout was so low, and electoral violations so rampant, that many Afghans will doubt the elections credibility. In Helmand, where British troops have been deployed since 2006, only about 50,000 people cast ballots out of an estimated 620,000 registered voters, according to the local election chief. Panthers Claw aimed to push back the Taleban and allow people to vote in the area around Nad e-Ali, Helmands most populous district with 107,500 residents. Brigadier Tim Radford, commander of British forces in Helmand, said last month the operation had allowed 80,000 more Afghans to vote. But fewer than 150 people actually cast their ballots in Nad e-Ali out of about 48,000 registered voters, according to Engineer Abdul Hadee, the local head of the Independent Election Commission. The number we hoped to get to vote it has not happened, he said. Haji Ahmad Shah Khan, a tribal elder in Nad e-Ali, was one of many Afghans scared off by the Talebans warnings to attack polling stations and cut off voters index fingers, which were marked with indelible ink. We couldnt come out of our house. The Taleban are patrolling the area, he said. Nobody could vote. Mullah Ghulam Mohamamd Akhund, a Taleban commander in the district, said: Everything was fine. There were no polling centres and no voting. We didnt face any problems. Engineer Hadee said there was a similarly low turnout in most of Helmands 13 districts despite the recent efforts of British troops, 13 of whom have been killed this month. No votes at all were cast in Nawa and Garmsir districts, which had 85,000 registered voters between them. In Nawzad, which has a population of 46,300, the vote was cancelled because there were no presidential ballot papers. The poor turnout is troubling for President Karzai, as well as for British forces, because most people in Helmand are from the Pashtun ethnic majority from which he hails and derives most of his support. His aides worry that low turnout across the Pashtun-dominated south could mean that he fails to win the outright majority needed for a first-round victory. That would force him into a second round run-off in early October with his main rival, Dr Abdullah Abdullah, who is half Pashtun and half Tajik. One round will be in the interest of the nation, Mr Karzai said yesterday as he cast his vote. Early results from near Lashkar Gar, Helmands capital, gave an idea of peoples affiliations in the south. At a polling station at Kareyz School, about two miles south of Lashkar Gah, there were 2,418 votes cast, of which 2,400 went to Karzai, and 18 to Dr Abdullah, according to a local councillor. Many observers, analysts and diplomats fear that Mr Karzais allies may try to rig the vote to compensate for the poor turnout in the south. Although Helmand appeared to be the worst affected province, turnout was also low in many other provinces with large Pashtun populations. This is Karzai country but they really failed to get the vote out today, said Tom Fairbank, an observer for Democracy International in the eastern city of Jalalabad, which voted overwhelmingly for Mr Karzai in 2004. The interesting thing now is to see how many people they will say voted here when they release the results. Observers also reported a very low turnout in the southern city of Kandahar, where the Taleban fired several rockets, one of which killed a young girl. The biggest attack of the day was on the northern city of Baghlan, which militants stormed in the morning, shutting down all its polling stations. Between eight and 22 militants were killed in the ensuing battle, according to local officials. In Kabul, Afghan forces killed two more militants who took over a building in the east of the city. The kind of spectacular attacks that we were warned about have not happened, said Kai Eide, the UN envoy to Afghanistan. Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Nato chief, said: Seen from a security point of view the election has been a success. Richard Holbrooke, the US envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan, said: So far every prediction of disaster turned out to be wrong." The view from Helmand was less upbeat. Abdul Ahad Helmandwal, a local councillor from Nad e-Ali, said he went to his local mosque at lunchtime and asked 40 elders who they were voting for They said, 'are you crazy? My life is much more important than the presidential election. Among all those forty I was the only one to vote.