Voters balance fear with duty
Outside the high-walled campus of Qala Kashif high school, one of many schools in the Afghan capital Kabul that will become polling centres for this weekend’s presidential election, sidewalk vendors put away their carts three days before the vote, just to be on the safe side.
‘‘We’re not going to come back until it’s all over,’’ said Javed Khan, 21, who sells homemade vegetable crepes. ‘‘We all want to vote. This is our country and it is our duty. But everyone is scared.’’
Around the corner, a group of older men gathered outside a row of construction workshops, debating whether to vote. Noor Alam, 56, a carpenter who fought against the Soviet army in his youth, said he planned to wait at home before making his decision.
‘‘If there are no attacks and things are clear, I’ll go out and vote,’’ he said. ‘‘We need to have elections. But it is not worth risking your life.’’
Across the country, Afghan voters are wrestling with the same dilemma. Most agree that the election, which comes several weeks after peace talks between United States and Taliban officials collapsed, could give a decisive boost to launching new talks among Afghans and potentially bringing peace closer. Yet many are fearful of attacks by the Taliban, which has threatened repeatedly to violently target polling places and has denounced the election as a sham.
Since the election campaign began last month, at least 55 people have died in Taliban attacks on election events and candidates’ offices, and the group has continued a spate of attacks across the country.
Some voters said the added possibility of fraud, which ruined the country’s last presidential election in 2014, also made it seem less appealing to risk exposing themselves to danger.
On Friday, the Taliban issued a new warning that all voters should stay away from the polls. The group said it planned to block all roads in the country and target all facilities where voting and other election activities were taking place.
Officials have decided to close about 2400 polling centres for fear of attack. About 5000 will remain open.
Many observers say they expect turnout to be extremely low.
The two main contestants are President Ashraf Ghani, who is seeking a second five-year term, and Abdullah Abdullah, the government’s chief executive.
The last presidential election in 2014, which pitted Ghani against Abdullah, collapsed amid widespread charges of fraud and fears of violent disturbances. Concerns about fraud favouring Ghani have been raised by Abdullah and other candidates, and Abdullah has said that a clearly fraudulent result will be disputed, potentially triggering a crisis similar to 2014.
There will be very few international observers. Unlike the past two presidential elections, this one is being run entirely by Afghans.
On the shaded lawns of Kabul University, students chatting between classes expressed a mix of scepticism, fear and longing to play a civic role in Afghanistan’s struggling democratic system.
‘‘I wish I could vote. It’s our duty to make choices like this, and it’s important for the future of our country,’’ said Haida Ahmadi, 22, a psychology student. However, she and a group of female classmates all said that because of the likelihood of fraud and the danger of Taliban attacks, they would be staying home.
In a crowded fruit and vegetable market in west Kabul, a cauliflower seller named Samad Agha, 22, said he voted for the first time five years ago, but that this time neither he nor anyone in his family would go to the polls.
‘‘My father said that none of us should leave the house on election day,’’ Agha said. ‘‘There are going to be attacks. No-one feels secure, and people are deeply worried.’’