Afghanistan went to the polls on 20 Aug 2009, to elect its president and 420 councilors in 34 provinces. The incumbent President Hamid Karzai and the former Foreign Minister Abdulllah Abdullah are the main contestants. Ramazan Bashardost, a Kabul law maker and Ashraf Ghani are the other prominent contestants. Ashraf Ghani was once with the World Bank.
Hell bent on sabotaging the elections the Taliban carried out attacks as it had said. In the western province of Heart, militants stormed three polling booths and set the building on fire. They also destroyed the votes cast in the boxes. In the Northern Province Kunduz, the army repelled the militants. Reports say there were four explosions in Kandahar before the poll began.
The government, well aware of the militants plans to interrupt the election, had deployed 300,000 Afghan and foreign forces to ensure that the people came out to vote. However, compared with the turn out in 2004, the turn out in 2009 was not promising. President Hamid Karzai thanked the people of Afghanistan and said it had been a good day for the country.
Mr. Anders Fough Rasmussen, the Chief of the NATO forces in Afghanistan, said the voter turn out was ‘encouraging’ though it was low compared with the figures of 2004 elections. He reportedly said, “it was a clear demonstration that the Afghan people want democracy, they want freedom and reject terrorism”.
The Taliban had earlier distributed leaflets in the south of the country that read, “This is to inform respected residents that you must not participate in the elections so as not to become a victim of our operations, because we will use new tactics”. Qari Yousuf, a Talinan spokesman said that they were using new methods to attack election centers.
The government also warned the journalists in the country not to report threats or attacks of the Taliban as they are ‘forbidden’. However, they are free to report the polling. At the same time the Taliban is compelling the journalists to report the threats and dangers involved in voting.
Both Karzai and Abdullah have claimed victory in the election though the results are not out. It was reported that Abdullah was so confident the he declared “I am in the lead, no doubt. The incumbent should think for a single second that he could be out of that office and he should prepare himself mentally and physically”. When the counting began they were neck and neck. However, as the counting progressed Karzai began to establish clear lead.
None in the West expected the elections to be free of rigging. The American does not want Karzai to win. They know well that Karzai who desperately wants to win the election would buy votes using money and muscle powers. But at the same time they do not seem to have any other person in mind who could take charge in Afghanistan and deal with the Taliban firmly as they like.
There were allegations of fraud such as stuffing votes in the ballot boxes in favour of Karzai, and intimidation of the voters from the beginning. There were complaints about the indelible ink also. The Electoral Complaints Commission, which has the authority to declare the votes as invalid and order re-election, has received about 2500 complaints so far.
Mr. Kai Eide, the UN special envoy to Afghanistan, said that there were many irregularities in the poll. He also requested the political parties to trust the Complaints Commission and let it find out the details of the reported irregularities.
Even if Hamid Karzai is declared elected he will not enjoy the confidence either of his own people or the international observers. And a government without legitimacy cannot be expected to fight a determined militant force such as the Taliban and bring peace to the region.
Hell bent on sabotaging the elections the Taliban carried out attacks as it had said. In the western province of Heart, militants stormed three polling booths and set the building on fire. They also destroyed the votes cast in the boxes. In the Northern Province Kunduz, the army repelled the militants. Reports say there were four explosions in Kandahar before the poll began.
The government, well aware of the militants plans to interrupt the election, had deployed 300,000 Afghan and foreign forces to ensure that the people came out to vote. However, compared with the turn out in 2004, the turn out in 2009 was not promising. President Hamid Karzai thanked the people of Afghanistan and said it had been a good day for the country.
Mr. Anders Fough Rasmussen, the Chief of the NATO forces in Afghanistan, said the voter turn out was ‘encouraging’ though it was low compared with the figures of 2004 elections. He reportedly said, “it was a clear demonstration that the Afghan people want democracy, they want freedom and reject terrorism”.
The Taliban had earlier distributed leaflets in the south of the country that read, “This is to inform respected residents that you must not participate in the elections so as not to become a victim of our operations, because we will use new tactics”. Qari Yousuf, a Talinan spokesman said that they were using new methods to attack election centers.
The government also warned the journalists in the country not to report threats or attacks of the Taliban as they are ‘forbidden’. However, they are free to report the polling. At the same time the Taliban is compelling the journalists to report the threats and dangers involved in voting.
Both Karzai and Abdullah have claimed victory in the election though the results are not out. It was reported that Abdullah was so confident the he declared “I am in the lead, no doubt. The incumbent should think for a single second that he could be out of that office and he should prepare himself mentally and physically”. When the counting began they were neck and neck. However, as the counting progressed Karzai began to establish clear lead.
None in the West expected the elections to be free of rigging. The American does not want Karzai to win. They know well that Karzai who desperately wants to win the election would buy votes using money and muscle powers. But at the same time they do not seem to have any other person in mind who could take charge in Afghanistan and deal with the Taliban firmly as they like.
There were allegations of fraud such as stuffing votes in the ballot boxes in favour of Karzai, and intimidation of the voters from the beginning. There were complaints about the indelible ink also. The Electoral Complaints Commission, which has the authority to declare the votes as invalid and order re-election, has received about 2500 complaints so far.
Mr. Kai Eide, the UN special envoy to Afghanistan, said that there were many irregularities in the poll. He also requested the political parties to trust the Complaints Commission and let it find out the details of the reported irregularities.
Even if Hamid Karzai is declared elected he will not enjoy the confidence either of his own people or the international observers. And a government without legitimacy cannot be expected to fight a determined militant force such as the Taliban and bring peace to the region.
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