AFGHANISTAN IS bracing itself for a tense parliamentary election this weekend amid fears that violence and fraud could produce an echo of last year’s disastrous presidential vote.
Kidnappings and murders of election workers, Taliban threats and reports of fake ballot cards have set the stage for a fierce contest among many of the 2,500 candidates vying for 249 seats today.
The election is taking place at a sensitive time for Barack Obama, who is facing growing calls to limit the scope of US engagement in Afghanistan before a strategy review due in December.
Election officials say they are better prepared than they were before the August 2009 presidential race, when fraud prompted a political crisis that eventually returned President Hamid Karzai to power, his legitimacy gravely damaged.
The Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan, an Afghan observer group, says authorities have failed to take tough enough action to prevent fraud. Mahbouba Seraj, a candidate running in the eastern Nuristan province, where insurgents are entrenched, said yesterday that ballot papers had yet to arrive. Diplomats and Afghan officials hope the poll will at least be more credible than the presidential contest.
International observers say the Independent Election Commission has regained a measure of legitimacy after Mr Karzai’s move earlier this year to replace senior officials accused of bias. Yet there is huge uncertainty as to whether electoral officials will be able to steer the process through what could be a lengthy procedure to verify complaints after the vote. Results are expected to be announced next month.
The Taliban has warned voters to stay at home and pledged to attack polling stations. In the latest violence, the movement said yesterday it had kidnapped two candidates and 18 election workers from various parts of the country. In Kabul, Mr Karzai urged voters to turn out in large numbers. Flagrant cheating or violence would add darker shades to an already grim picture for the west in Afghanistan.
A troop surge launched by Mr Obama last December has prompted a spike in Nato casualties and civilian deaths.
The US has also made scant progress in other key pillars of its strategy: persuading fighters to lay down their weapons in return for jobs; bolstering Afghan governance and convincing Pakistan to crack down on Afghan militants on its territory.
Allegations of corruption at Kabul Bank – which caused a crisis this month – have underlined the shakiness of Afghan institutions.
Any evidence of widespread electoral abuses will bolster the case of critics who argue Mr Obama should pull out significant numbers of troops when his self-imposed deadline to start withdrawing US forces arrives next July. – (Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010)