Afghans have voted in a long-delayed parliamentary election which has been marred by high-profile Taliban attacks and intimidation. As the country’s electoral commission prepares to release the results of the election, many are criticising the government for being too weak to conduct the exercise credibly.
After a three-year delay due to several issues including widespread violence across the country, increasing Taliban territorial gains and technical problems at Afghanistan’s election agency, voters have endured significant setbacks in their attempt to choose lawmakers.
However, some people are optimistic about the country’s ability to ride on the success of the parliamentary election. “This election marks the first step of a major political transition that will culminate with a new president next year,” said Michael Kugelman, the Deputy Director of the Asia Program and Senior Associate for South Asia at the Washington-based Woodrow Wilson Center.
Since the Taliban were ousted in a US invasion in 2001, Afghan elections have been tainted by violence, ballot-stuffing and delays. Unfortunately, the 14,000 U.S. troops stationed in the country have been unable to bring an end to the violence so far. Now, a discredited poll could spill over into fresh crisis while President Donald Trump’s administration seeks to negotiate an accord with the Taliban and Afghan forces.
Of the country’s 8.8 million registered voters, about four million Afghans cast their ballot to elect 250 lawmakers, according to the country’s Independent Election Commission (IEC). The turnout excludes two provinces –Kandahar and Ghazni– where security issues prevented the commission from opening polling stations. The IEC will hold polls in Kandahar on Oct 27 and is considering another vote in Ghazni next year despite the three-year delay.
“The turnout was relatively good in cities but [bad] in rural areas where security is not good,” said Ali Yawar Adili, an analyst and researcher with Kabul-based Afghan Analyst Network independent think tank.
More than 400 polling centers were unable to accept voters due to Taliban threats, malfunctioning biometric devices, a lack of election materials and staff shortages. To combat this, the commission extended voting for an extra day, but 148 polling centers remained closed.
Many of the voters found disorganised and chaotic polling stations, amidst a seemingly unending barrage of attacks from the Taliban. In the wake of their incursion, the group vowed to stop the upcoming presidential elections because the commission provides reporters with “sham turnout figures.”
For Afghanistan, the region, the US and its NATO partners, it is critical to have a credible and democratically elected government for the sake of stability and potential lasting peace.
“Over 5,000 complaints were lodged to Electoral Complaints Commission about fraud, misconduct and technical issues, spokesman Ali Reza Rouhani said, while Interior Minister Wais Ahmad Barmak told state TV that 442 attacks that killed or wounded more than 150 were reported,” said Eltaf Najafizada in the report for Bloomberg.
