Speaking of ink-dye...At the debate, Bush touted the fact Afghanistan would hold historic elections, a sign of freedom there. Right. Ink questions may stain Afghanistan's election
Challengers vow boycott over glitch in plan to keep people from voting twice.
By Paul Haven
Associated Press
October 10, 2004
KABUL, Afghanistan -- Despite repeated threats from Taliban insurgents, millions of Afghans, many of them women, turned out to vote Saturday in a landmark presidential election, only to have irregularities at the polls cast a shadow over the historic vote.
Hours after the polls opened at 7 a.m. local time, 15 candidates opposing U.S.-backed interim leader Hamid Karzai vowed to boycott the results and called for new elections because some of the ink used to prevent people from voting more than once could be washed or rubbed off.
"Any government as a result of these elections is not legitimate," said Uzbek candidate Abdul Satar Sirat. "We will not accept the results of these elections."
Officials of the joint U.N.-Afghan electoral commission said the problems with the ink weren't widespread enough to halt the historic vote, and it would rule later on the vote's legitimacy. The polls closed at 4 p.m. local time, but tabulating the results could take as long as three weeks. About 30,000 ballot boxes must be delivered to counting centers around the country.
But the controversy nonetheless cast a pall over what had been a joyous day in Afghanistan. Millions of ethnically diverse Afghan voters crammed polling stations for an election aimed at bringing peace and prosperity to a country nearly ruined by more than two decades of war. Men and women voted at separate booths in keeping with this nation's conservative Islamic leanings.
Karzai -- who is widely favored to win -- said the fate of the balloting was with the electoral panel, but he added that, in his view, "the election was free and fair. . . . It is very legitimate."
"Who is more important, these 15 candidates or the millions of people who turned out today to vote?" Karzai said. "Both myself and all these 15 candidates should respect our people -- because in the dust and snow and rain, they waited for hours and hours to vote."
Even if the vote is ultimately validated, Karzai's ability to unite Afghanistan, fight rampant warlordism and crush a lingering Taliban insurgency in this nation of an estimated 25 million people might be fatally compromised if his opponents refuse to accept the results and insist that his rule is illegitimate.
Taliban rebels got into a skirmish with U.S. troops that left at least 25 insurgents dead, and managed to kill three Afghan policemen accompanying ballots back to a counting center after the vote. Eight more police and two civilians died when their vehicles ran over mines.
But the rebels did not muster anything approaching the massive attack they had threatened to derail the election.
The boycott was a blow to the international community, which spent almost $200 million in staging the vote. At least 12 election workers and dozens of Afghan security forces have died in the past few months as the nation geared up for the vote.http://www.indystar.com/articles/8/185262-6048-010.html
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news.xinhuanet.com
The voting day passed relatively peacefully, but ended in political turmoil as the 15 candidates opposing interim President Hamid Karzai threatened to boycott its result because of alleged widespread fraud.
Bush did not mention the political chaos in Afghanistan's elections. White House spokesman Scott McClellan also played down the difficulties in the elections and proclaimed it "a great day for the people of Afghanistan." |
