Afghanistan Polls…


Written by Huma Iqbal • Region • September 2009

Amidst security concerns and a political landscape filled with chaos and doubts, Afghanistan went through its second democratic presidential election. How well the country took to the challenge. August 20 saw Afghans going for polls in the wake of presidential election in the country. Afghanistan witnessed escalating violence through out the months preceding the election with reports of blasts, killings and burnings particularly in the Taliban held southern and eastern parts of the country.

Though Afghan President Hamid Karzai and his Western allies pronounced the country's election a success, and maintained that the voting passed off largely peacefully, the turn out, according to various media reports remained patchy amid fears of attacks and corruption.

Earlier the Taliban had vowed to disrupt the election and urged Afghans to boycott them. Militants launched a flurry of deadly attacks across Afghanistan in the wake of their threats to disrupt the election. They targeted polling stations, public property and civilians including the Nato soldiers. July turned out to be the deadliest month for the allied forces in the country which saw an increase of 114 percent in the frequency of use of explosive devices killing more than 100 soldiers to date.

As if that was not enough, reports of corruption claiming that voting cards are being sold openly and candidates have been offering thousands of dollars in bribes for votes further put the credibility of the process at stake. Multiple voting cards were reported to have been issued to some individuals, while government workers actively and illegally campaigned for candidates.

The day of election therefore saw a patchy turn out through out the country. The capital city of Kabul was mainly reported to be quiet, with a brisk turnout in some polling stations while there was little activity in others. Fewer people voted in the south and east, where militant influence is greater. In the eastern province of Nangarhar, some districts reported no voters at all while in Kandahar - the historical stronghold of the Taliban - the turnout appeared to be 40% lower than during the 2004 election.

However in Lashkar Gah, the capital of the Helmand province, many voters appeared to have taken part despite the bomb attacks. There was mixed reaction amongst the voters who came to vote. Some of them hoped that the election would bring security and peace to Afghanistan where the next president should stop the killing of innocent people and find jobs for them.

But other voters said that they had little faith in Afghan democracy. Democracy has been exported to Afghanistan and it has not grown up from the bottom to the top, they were skeptical. Other would-be voters said they feared for their safety and hence avoided going to the polling stations and preferred staying back.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai hailed Afghans for braving Taliban "bombs and intimidations". His praise was echoed by the US and Nato. Karzai has a tough call and contends with 30 other presidential candidates including his former Foreign Minister, Abdullah Abdullah, an independent candidate Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai and ex-World Bank official Ramazan Bashardost. Abdullah called it a "day of change, a day of hope" but Mr. Bashardost called authorities to stop the election and that it “was not an election but a comedy.”

Kai Eide, the head of the UN mission in Kabul said that overall, the security situation had been better than feared and had allowed people to take part in the election. Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen hailed the vote as a testimony to the determination of the Afghan people to build democracy.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in his statement congratulated the women and men of Afghanistan on the presidential and provincial council election.

In Washington, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said, "Lots of people have defied threats of violence and terror to express their thoughts about the next government for the people of Afghanistan."

Some 300,000 Afghan and Nato troops were on patrol to prevent attacks during the presidential polls across the country. Moreover, the afghan security forces aided by international security forces have been on a look out for past whole month as the country prepared for the election.

Official preliminary results are not expected until 2 September, with the full final results scheduled for 17 September. If the winning candidate fails to gain more than 50% of the vote initially, there will be a second-round run-off in October.

We will not know for some time whether President Karzai will have to go through a second round or whether he will manage to summon up sufficient votes to win this time. In the meantime, international observers and media keep a close eye on how events turn out in Afghanistan; and the fate of its people lingers amid doubts and allegations of the election being a little more than a political theatre for the powerful.