Afghan voters brave bloodshed to cast their votes
AFGHANISTAN - Multiple deadly attacks and administrative chaos marred Afghanistan’s long-delayed parliamentary elections, but large numbers of voters have still braved the threats and long queues to cast their ballots on Saturday.
There was bloodshed around the country, with nearly 200 attacks near polling stations or security checkpoints, at least 28 people killed and scores more injured, the interior minister, Wais Barmak, said. Perhaps the biggest blast in Kabul, late in the day, killed at least fifteen. But even at polling stations spared violence, there were widespread problems, from faulty voting registers and difficulties with new equipment for biometric ID checks, to officials who failed to show up for the 7am opening of polls and attempts to coerce voters. “People have been lining up to vote since 5am or 6am, but the employees of the election commission didn’t arrive until after 8am”, said Tawab Faizi, a volunteer monitoring the vote in the western city of Herat.
“Many people are angry here, they queued for two or three hours, but they were told that they cannot vote because their names are not on the list. There are many irregularities.”
The problems raised the prospects of the election – and the security worries that come with it – dragging on far beyond Saturday. The government said any voting stations that opened late would stay open into the evening, and those that did not open their doors until after 1pm would open again on Sunday. The vote came at a critical time for Afghanistan, with civilian casualties at grim records, the Taliban holding or threatening more of the country than at any time since 2001, and the government slowing down before presidential polls next year.
This parliamentary vote is widely seen as a practice run for that high-stakes contest for power, making the security and administrative problems particularly worrying. Voters said they had few illusions about the state of Afghanistan’s fragile democracy, which is riddled with corruption and hampered by violence, but still saw elections as their best hope of change at a time of extreme economic and security pressures.
“In today’s Afghanistan there is no good choice, we can only select between bad and worse. I and some other women voted for bad candidates to prevent the worse candidates winning”, said Faiza Ibrahimi, a radio presenter.
A large number of the candidates are young and making their first run for political office, and have campaigned on a promise of change in a body widely seen as fraudridden and ineffective. Turnout and results may be unclear for a week or longer, as results are collected from remote areas and counted at secure centres. Nearly 9 million people registered to vote, but many of them are considered fraudulent or incorrect registrations.
(The Guardian)