Look what happened when no one was looking: Afghanistan had an election with less violence than the average election day in India, the Phillipines or Indonesia. Imagine that!
Publius Pundit provides a nice round-up:
MILLIONS OF AFGHANS HEAD TO THE POLLS
“I am very confident [that] on the 19th of September, the day after the elections here, we are all going to wake up and realize that the heroes of Afghanistan were the people that went out and cast their vote for their own future.” — The commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Lieutenant General Karl Eikenberry, commenting on Afghanistan’s 18 September parliamentary elections.
This post will serve as a comprehensive roundup for the elections in Afghanistan. It will include links to news article, analysis from international organizations, and commentary from bloggers. Of course, don’t forget to check out the Afghanistan archive, which is pretty limited, but has some essays you might find really interesting. All additional resources will be at the bottom and updated as more become available.
Let’s begin. Click more for everything.
Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty gives one of the best full, comprehensive articles about how this election is going to go.
The commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan said today that he expects high turnout in tomorrow’s landmark parliamentary and provincial elections in that country. His remarks came despite a number of guerrilla attacks on police in the run-up to the voting that have underscored the threat of violence hanging over the election process.
Prague, 17 September 2005 (RFE/RL) — The commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, Lieutenant-General Karl Eikenberry, predicted that Afghans will turn out in “record numbers” despite the risk of violence.
“Tomorrow, that election is going to go,” Eikenberry said. “There will be some violence, but it’s going to go. Twelve million registered voters — they’re going to turn out in record numbers to express their will. I am very confident [that] on 19 September, the day after the elections here, we are all going to wake up and realize that the heroes of Afghanistan were the people that went out and cast their vote for their own future.”
Security has been a major concern in the run-up to the elections, especially in the south and east, where sympathizers with the former Taliban regime and other insurgents are most active.
The neo-Taliban has denounced the election and called for a boycott.
It has also claimed responsibility for killing several candidates and has promised to attack foreign troops over the election period.”We are not scared of the Taliban threats. We will go and vote for a better future in our country. And nothing will stop us from voting and participating in our parliamentary elections.” — Kandahar man
In the latest violence, guerrillas overnight attacked police near the capital Kabul and in two southern provinces, Kandahar and Zabul. Those clashes left at least 12 people dead, three of them police officers.
Their deaths add to an already bloody toll this year — more than 1,000 people have been killed in insurgency-related violence, most of them militants.
Ahead of the polls, thousands of security forces — Afghan police and foreign troops — are on high alert.
More than 50,000 Afghan police and another 28,000 Afghan troops are providing security around the elections to prevent insurgents from disrupting the polling. More than 10,000 international troops are further bolstering efforts to provide security.
There are road checkpoints in Kabul. In Kandahar, all vehicles have been temporarily banned from driving in the city due to fears of car bombs.
Despite the threat of violence, many people say they will exercise their right to vote. — like this Kandahar man,.
“We are not scared of the Taliban threats,” said one man in Kandahar. “We will go and vote for a better future in our country. And nothing will stop us from voting and participating in our parliamentary elections.”
Some 12.5 million people in Afghanistan — with an estimated population of 25 million-28 million — are registered to vote, which is roughly 1.5 million more than registered before the October 2004 presidential vote that kept transitional leader Hamid Karzai in power.
In that vote, the neo-Taliban also vowed to disrupt the country’s presidential election. That time, at least, they failed — and more than 8 million people turned out to vote.
Eurasia Daily Monitor, one of my favorite publications on Central Asia, has an incredibly detailed article about the euphoria sweeping the country.
Afghanistan is set to hold parliamentary elections on Sunday, September 18. In the final days of the campaign, hopes and difficulties abound. The hopes stem from the fact that people see the elections as a positive step towards democracy. The difficulties arise from the lack of preparedness and the handicaps facing a country still recovering from a long, bloody civil war followed by wars of liberation against occupiers and invaders.
On the plus side, the euphoria is overwhelming. Almost the entire country is caught up in election fever. There is hardly any city, town, or village where there are no election activities planned. With three days to go, the excitement and anxiety are beyond description. There are huge posters and banners appearing on every conceivable surface in the capital, from rooftops to buildings to lampposts. Cars and vans equipped with loudspeakers travel throughout the city, announcing various candidate messages. Mosques and town halls are reserved for public meetings. The campaign process will end tomorrow, Friday September 16, about 48 hours before the polls open.
Although the Joint Election Management Body (JEMB) imposed a spending limit on the campaign, there are no controls on how much each candidate spends for posters and banners. Each parliamentary candidate is allowed 750,000 Afghanis (about $15,000) and each provincial candidate 375,000 Afghanis (about $7,600) (RFE/RL, September 12).
There are at least four major hurdles still standing in the way of the elections.
The first problem is security. Since March about 1,200 people been killed, including insurgents, government soldiers, candidates, and election workers. About 76 soldiers from the U.S.-led coalition have also reportedly been killed in the same period. Most operations have been carried out in the volatile provinces of Khost, Zabul, Kandahar, Helmand, and Kunar (Hewad, September 13).
Second, the enormous number of candidates in some provinces, and especially in Kabul, poses a formidable problem. Since seats for both the lower house of parliament as well as the provincial council can be selected on a province-wide basis, all the names of the candidates must appear on the ballot papers. In Kabul alone, there are about 400 candidates for the lower house and each individual ballot paper consists of eight pages with some 50 candidates on each page. It is a newspaper-size page crowded with names, pictures, symbols, and numbers for each individual candidate. For an illiterate, elderly Afghan voter, male or female, the task of locating the right candidate is daunting.
Third, the logistics of transporting ballots are extremely complex. Over 135,000 ballot boxes have been imported from Canada along with 140,000 bottles of indelible ink, which stand ready to mark the index fingers of Afghan voters to prevent them from voting twice. Officials say that this time the stain will last long after the elections, hopefully eliminating the controversy that marred last October’s presidential election during which the ink would sometimes rub off.
There will be 26,000 polling stations across the country, with 140,000 booths inside which voters will cast their ballots.
Once the vote is cast, the daunting task of transporting the ballot boxes begins. In some cases several days are needed to collect the boxes in one central location. Every conceivable means of transportation have been readied for this purpose, including donkeys, horses, camels, mules, cars, trucks, and helicopters.
It has taken a small fleet of aircraft to ferry in election supplies, including 14 Antonov 124s, one of the largest aircraft ever built. Also on tap are eight Boeing 747s, an Ilyushin 76, and several helicopters.
Beside the crowded field of candidates, there are some 34,000 national and 491 international observers that will be dispatched to watch out for fraud. But there are also concerns that some observers might really be there to intimidate people planning to vote for the “wrong” candidate (Cheragh, September 10).
Finally, counting the ballots is another problem. It will take more than a month to know the final results. Most candidates prefer that votes be counted at polling stations. But at the moment, conditions in Afghanistan are not favorable: democratic institutions are still weak and warlords and armed people still wield influence in provinces and remote areas. Some government officials might abuse their powers at polling stations during the vote counting, so the result of votes counted at polling stations would probably be contested.
The real problem is the nature of the parliament. Since running on a party line is discouraged, and a single non-transferable voting system will be used, most of the candidates are segregated along ethnic fault lines. There are few candidates who expect to be elected by people other than their own ethnic constituencies. As a result, the new parliament is expected to be made up of ethnic groupings rather than party blocs or affiliations. There are fears that this situation might sharpen ethnic differences. The voting system is likely to produce a fragmented parliament that is both conservative and parochial, and possibly more of a hindrance than a help to the government.
The lingering anxiety in Afghanistan is the commitment of the international community to prop up the fledgling democracy in the country. James Dobbins, a former U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan, summed up this fear best: “Without the international presence, the country would begin to disintegrate again” (Reuters, September 12).
Radio Free Afghanistan notes that the tribal nature of Afghanistan’s warlords, and the fact that ex-Taliban officials are running, makes this an especially important election. Some of them will win, but doubtless, it will prompt many more to vote against them.
New York-based Human Rights Watch released a survey on 15 September suggesting that Afghans are concerned that alleged war criminals and human-rights abusers are running in the 18 September elections, AFP reported. Such individuals include Sayed Mohammad Gulabzoi, a parliamentary candidate from Khost Province who served in a senior position under the Soviet-backed regime. Former high-level leaders in the Taliban regime are also running, including Wakil Ahmad Mutawakil, the Taliban’s foreign minister, and Qalamuddin, the former minister for the prevention of vice and the promotion of virtue. Human Rights Watch also said that some of the candidates had censured themselves during the campaign in order to avoid conflict with local commanders or warlords. “When we give a speech, we don’t name these people, or criticize them, we just make veiled references to them, and to warlordism,” a candidate told the rights group.
Going back to the Eurasia Daily Monitor article, in conjunction with the one posted above, it’s extremely important to realize that the international presence in Afghanistan is what’s allowing the country to stay together as it rebuilds into a stable state that can fend for itself. It’s smoothing over the influence of warlords and preventing too much intervention from states hostile to the growth and stabilization of democracy in the region. For example, think of a country that starts with I and ends with ran. These elections are a very nationalist moment that will help solidify the country on the principle of citizenship instead of ethnicity.
But along those same lines, there is also the fear that violence will erupt on behalf of losing candidates. Luckily, voting will be transparent, with hundreds of international and domestic observers taking part, and tens of thousands of policeman on guard to make sure that the process isn’t derailed. JEMB has also, thankfully, fixed a lot of the problems that almost discredited the presidential election. The indelible ink will no longer be able to be washed off, for example.
This is a really exciting time, as the people of Afghanistan are taking their lives and their liberty into their own hands. They are becoming responsible for their own destinies, which means that they have a solid stake in continuing this process of democratization and development.
Here is what people are saying after voting.
Habib Shah Eqbal Ansari, a soldier from the Afghan Defense Ministry, speaking to RFE/RL after voting on Sunday morning at the Alfatha High School in Kabul said:
“There were some problems in the provinces. [The Taliban] has threatened people by telling them they had put some spy cameras inside the polling booths so that they can watch people as they cast their votes. This is not true. But because people are afraid of gunmen, they believe such threats. I say to the people that this is a lie. And nobody can stop this election process.”
Amannudin Temoori, a 35-year-old man speaking to RFE/RL after voting at Alfatha High School in Kabul early Sunday morning:
“This is a day of celebration for us. We are proud and we are using our freedom to vote. We are voting for the people who will work for the people of Afghanistan and can be productive in the parliament. And they must be well-known people with an education. If these educated and well-known people enter the parliament, it will be a good parliament and [the legislature] can do good things for the country. So democracy here in Afghanistan will develop further.”
Somsri Hananuntasuk, an international election observer from the Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) speaking to the RFE/RL at polling station at the Malalai High School in central Kabul:
“I am concerned about the understanding of the poll officers whether they understand well about the process, about what they want to do because it seems to me that they don’t know that the polls should open for voters to vote at 600.Some voters just came here and got angry.”
“We had some reports from Kandahar about a person who got more than one registration card. This means that a person who gets two or three registration cards can vote three times. It means that the rumors we had received in the last few days [about multiple voter registration cards being issued] is true. So in that case, we wonder if it happened in other areas [as well],” Somsri Hananuntasuk said.
Shirin Javid, a school teacher in Kabul speaking after she cast her ballots Sunday in Kabul said:
“I’m very happy because I voted according to my wish. There are people who have blood on their hands, they are standing as candidates. My complaint from president Karzai is that he let them run. Their own people, the murderers will vote for them, killers should not become people’s candidates.”
Askar Best, woman doctor in Kabul who is working as the JEMB’s head of woman’s polling station at the Wazir Akbar Khan Mosque in central Kabul:
“My wish is that the elections that are taking place today, will be in the benefit of our country and our people who are trying hard and who are concerned that the elections could have negative consequences. May these elections open [a window of opportunity] for the people of Afghanistan.”
Narguess, Kabul woman student, 20 years old, after voting Sunday morning:
“I voted for [candidates] whose doesn’t have blood on [his or her] hands. We voted for them and I except from them?God willing — that our country reaches a high and good position.”
Nafissa, 40-year old Kabul woman who teaches at a kindergarten in Kabul speaking after voting early Sunday:
“I vote for somebody who is a patriot, somebody who will do his best for the development of our country, somebody who would create peace and a good life for women.”
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