Dodging Shrapnel At The Polls
Photograph of a ballot counting station near Kabul, Afghanistan. Photo courtesy of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
On 28 Sept., Afghanistan held a Presidential Election. Violence and accusations of tampering marred the polls.
This twice-delayed election was expected to be cancelled due to peace talks between the United States and the Taliban. However, American President Donald Trump called off those talks last month, as reported by Reuters, and so the election took place.
The Taliban vowed to stop the election, declaring it illegitimate and 'compelling' people to stay home. Taliban forces launched 68 attacks against public polling stations, killing at least four people and injuring another 80, according to the British Broadcasting Corporation.
These threats led to incredibly low turnout rates, further delegitimising the election.
The Independent Election Commission is still in the process of counting ballots, and they have announced that final results are expected by 7 November. Despite this, both leading candidates, current President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah, have both declared victory, as reported by Al Jazeera.
In the last 2014 Presidential Election, Mr Ghani and Mr Abdullah went head-to-head. Upon Mr Ghani's victory, however, Mr Abdullah accused his rival of vote tampering. In an effort to calm tensions, the American government secured Mr Abdullah the new position of 'Chief Executive'. The 'Chief Executive' position was mostly conceived to satisfy Mr Abdullah and was not a precedented office, according to Foreign Policy.
It seems that Mr Ghani and Mr Abdulla are destined to go into open confrontation again. With the Trump Administrations laize-fairee attitude towards Afghanistan, there may be no way to diffuse it.
During the voting process, Taliban agents targeted mobile communication centres, cutting off 900 out of nearly 5,000 polling stations. The Afghan government was also forced to close several stations near the beginning of the election due to 'security concerns'. However, the Abdulla campaign accused Mr Ghani of closing polling stations in areas favouring Mr Abdulla, as reported by The Economist.
In addition to allegations of vote interference, there were also numerous technical issues with new biometric voting machines. These machines were meant to make the electoral process more efficient, leading Western nations to 'drum up' millions for them, according to The Economist.
According to Foreign Affairs, the Independent Election Commission will release preliminary results by 19 Oct. and that no candidate can declare victory until that date.
Polls show that Mr Ghani is the favourite to win the election. However, if no candidate gets 51 per cent of the vote, there will be a runoff election after 7 November. Due to the divisive nature of the election, this result seems very likely, according to The Economist.
Former warlord and Prime-Minister Gulbuddin Hikmatyar, who also alleges the election was rigged, is likely to come in third place. This result would eliminate him from any possible runoff election.
There is little to do but wait until the Independent Election Commission releases the election results and hope that there will be a peaceful transition. After 18 years of conflict, Afghanistan could benefit from a peaceful and democratic government.
Sources:
"Pakistan and Taliban call for U.S. to resume Afghan peace talks." Reuters, Thomas Reuters Corporation, 03 Oct. 2019,
"Afghan presidential election: Tense wait after day of attacks." BBC News, British Broadcasting Corporation, 29 Sept. 2019,
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-49794057
"Ghani, Abdullah camps claim victory in Afghanistan election." Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera Media Network, 30 Sept. 2019
Agrawal, Ravi and Salam, Kathryn. "Is Afghanistan’s Election Credible?" Foreign Policy, The FP Group, 01 Oct. 2019
"Afghanistan’s presidential poll looks likely to be disputed." The Economist, The Economist Group, 03 Oct. 2019
,https://www.economist.com/asia/2019/10/03/afghanistans-presidential-poll-looks-likely-to-be-disputed
"The perils ahead after Afghanistan’s presidential election." The Economist, The Economist Group, 27 Sept. 2019,
https://www.economist.com/asia/2019/09/27/the-perils-ahead-after-afghanistans-presidential-election