JABAR KHAN, Afghanistan: Afghan Hazara leader said on Thursday that the government has deliberately shut polling stations under a pretext of insecurity in relatively safe areas where the Hazara ethnic group dominates.

Millions of Afghans will go to the polls on Saturday to choose from over 2,500 candidates running for 249 seats in the country's wolesi jirga, or the upper house of the parliament.

From Haji Mohammad Mohaqiq's party, Hezb-i-Wahdat, more than 30 candidates, are standing in the election in a bid to win more parliamentary seats and influence in Karzai's government. The lawmaker is also running for re-election.

"I believe this year's election has already been engineered by the government who want to help their favorite candidates to win," Mohaqiq told Reuters at his residence in Kabul.

The mainly Shi'ite Hazaras have been marginalized for centuries by rulers in Kabul, and thousands were massacred under the 1996-2001 rule of the Taliban.