Afghanistan Elections held amidst insecurity

Afghanistan Elections held amidst insecurity and violence
Afghanistan went to polls on August 20, 2009 to vote for a president for the second time since the fall of the Taliban. Seventeen million Afghans registered to elect a president and 420 councilors in 34 provinces across the largely rural and impoverished country. In late 2001, leaders of the former Afghan Mujahedin and Diaspora met in Germany and concluded the ‘ Bonn Agreement’ which articulated the formulation of a new democrat government that resulted in the inauguration of Hamid Karzai as chairman of the Afghan Interim Authority. Following an election in October 2004, Hamid Karzai won and became the president of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Legislative elections were held in September 2005. The national assembly sat in December 2005, and was particularly noteworthy since it included women as voters, candidates and elected members.
Under the 2004 constitution, elections should have been held no later than 60 days before the end of President Karzai’s term in July 2009. The Independent Election Commission originally recommended that the poll be held at the same time as the 2010 parliamentary elections to save costs. However, politicians in the country were unable to agree to the concerns about accessibility to mountainous areas in spring 2009 and the ability of getting adequate people and materials in place by then.
Forty one candidates registered for the presidential election, three of whom withdrew before Election Day. Karzai filed candidacy on May 4, 2009, the united National Front announced on 16 April that they would nominate Dr. Abdullah Abdullah as their presidential candidate. Ramazan Bashardost has registered for the president election on May 7, 2009. In total 42 men and two women registered their candidacies. Another notable candidate is Hedahat Arsala, economy expert and current senior minister Ali Ahmad Jalai did not file to run although he had been expected to all 44 candidates were approved by the IEC on 17 May 2009. The new updated top contenders for the 2009 presidential elections are Hamdi Karzai Dr. Abduallh and Ashraf Ghani.
Starting in December 2008 journalist Anand Gopal and others have reported extensively on the widespread instance of fraud in the voter registration process, phantom voters and multiple registration cards issued to a single registrant, amongst numerous other problems. After being informed that voting cards were being sold in the capital Kabul and Afghan working for the BBC posed as a potential buyer and was offered one thousand voting cards on the spot for $10 per card. Other parties also offered to sell the BBC investigators thousands of votes and some sellers have even been arrested by the authorities. In Helmand province tribal leaders and local people also described a systemic attempt by Karzai supporter to collect or buy voter registration cards from people in an electoral fraud scheme allegedly orchestrated by Karzai’s half-brother and campaign manger for the south, Ahmed Wali Karai.
The day before the election Afghan election officials ordered more than 440 polling stations to stay closed during the voter out of fears of election fraud. The Independent Election Commission said Hamid Karzai’s supporters were trying to keep open polling stations deep with insurgent held regions where the army and police feared going and where voting could not be properly monitored by observers.
Government workers required to be impartial in the election were found by election observers to have actively and illegally campaigned for candidates. Investigators have also found members of political parties occupying positions as election officials. The most problematic conflict of interest may be the fact that the country’s Independent Election Commission that oversees the whole election is not independent of the Karzai administration at all. All seven of the members were appointed to the commission by Hamid Karzai and its chairman has reportedly made no secret of his partisan support for the incumbent president.
The opposition accused Karzai of attempting to extend his power past his term. In February 2009 president Hamid Karzai called on the Independent Election Committee to hold the elections according to the country’s constitution thereby forcing the IEC to iterate the date and silencing critics who fear a leadership vacuum between May and August . Some potential Afghan opponents complained Karzai’s move was an attempt to clear the field of challenges, most of whom would not be ready to campaign for the 2009 election. After the IEC and international community rejected Karzais decree, Karzai accepted the date of August 20, 2009.The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission said insecurity had severely limited freedom of movement and constrained freedom of expression for candidates. Security concerns prevented presidential candidates from campaigning in most of the provinces. A UN election monitoring report said in early August that the government was using state resources to favour Karzai ..
And opinion poll in May showed Karzai leading with 31% against his nearest rival Abduallh on 7%. Another survey in mid July 3566 voters by Glevum Associates funded by the US government showed Krzai with 36% followed by Abduallh on 20%. Bashardost 10%, Ghani 6% and others 11%. Three per cent of respondents said they didn’t know or refused to answer. In a KArzai Abudllah second round the poll gave Karzai 56% support from those who said they would vote .
While UN, America and Afghan officials quickly hailed the election as a success, evidence from observers on the ground and from journalists suggested that the Taliban had succeeded in deterring many Afghans from voting. At the end of the voting day, top election official Zekria Barakazai estimated the voter turnout across the country at around 40-50%in independent election observers in neither the country almost all agreed voter turnout in the eastern city of Jalalabad was low at nor more than 20-30% according to election observers. A lot of people have told that they were afraid to vote and afraid to have their fingers doped in ink because of the Talibans threats. The government on the other hand was expected to claim that it was more like 60% in the area.
Election Day was one of the most violent days witnessed in Afghanistan in the last eight years. Afghan government officials reported that 73 incidents of violence had taken place in 15 provinces through the country during voting that number of attacks represented a 50% spike over NATO figures for the previous four days of violence leading up to the poll.
Whether democracy in Afghanistan is going to prove to be success story or not remains a matter of debate but one can only hope that pulling out of Afghanistan does not usher in an era of unprecedented violence which has the potential to spill over and further aggravate other conflict-prone areas. Still common people are waiting to see a change in Afghanistan through this election. A 27-year old farmer said after casting his vote “I voted for peace. I voted for change, I voted for the change of my country. I want the war to stop and I want my life to improve. Another guard commented, ” I don’t care about the Taliban and their threats. Who do think they are? We have a government, police, army, the infrastructure of a functioning state. The Talibans are all talk.” We want the banishment of Taliban era and the foreign occupation from Afghanistan. Though the election was full of insecurity, fraud and irregularities, we like to term it as a journey to democracy which will form a government of the people, by the people and for the people of Afghanistan in near future.

Md. Masum Billah
Senior Manager: BRAC Education Programme, PACE
Phone: 9355253 (res), 01714-091431(cell)
Email: mmbillah2000@yahoo.com, mmbillah@dhaka.net