Turmoil in Afghanistan surrounding the fall presidential election could not have come at a worse time for the Middle Eastern state. Hamid Karzai, the current Afghani president, was declared the winner after his main opponent pulled out of the runoff. This move ended months of uncertainty concerning who would rule the torn nation.
After the Aug. 20 election, Mr. Karzai's challenger, Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, contested the results. He cited voting irregularities and accused various election officials, such as Azizullah Lodin, head of the Afghani Elections Commision, of being Karzai supporters. Corruption on a wide scale was reported by the United Nations, whose independent investigation of the Aug. 20 presidential election yielded shocking results - almost a third of Karzai ballots were fraudulent.
This election took place amidst waves of Taliban violence aimed at disrupting this aspect of democracy that President Obama has been so keen on carrying out. Over fifty incidents of violence occurred on election day alone, a testament to the forces that are determined to halt any semblance of national unity in the country. After partial and uncertified election results were released, the numbers stabilized, revealing Karzai winning roughly 54 percent, Abdullah 27 percent, and the rest to other candidates. However, unsettling reports from the journalists and independent international agencies who observed the elections came through shortly thereafter. Bribery, selling ballots, ballot-stuffing, and extremely low-voter turnout were reported.
On election day, the U.N. secretary-general special representative confidently stated that "In general, it seems to be working well." Many journalists lambasted this response, and the U.S. response as out of touch and aloof. It seemed as if the election had failed.
But after much pressure from the White House, and a personal visit to Karzai from the Senate Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee John Kerry, the Afghan president finally relented and agreed to a runoff. Considering the amount of violence, confusion, and disorganization of the first election day on Aug. 20, the runoff proved to be no less dramatic.
However, Abdullah, wary of the numerous types of fraud that led Karzai to a 58-27 percent edge in the first round of balloting, was not satisfied with the proposed runoff. He demanded that corrupt officials on the influential and powerful elections committee be replaced and to station observers at polling places to prevent further fraud. Furthermore, he showed no signs of relenting or bargaining with an opponent who handily beat him. During an interview with John King on CNN, Abdullah stated, "My trust in becoming a candidate was not to be part of the same government, [but] part of the same deteriorating situation."
After Karzai finally agreed to participate in a runoff, he was interviewed by Fareed Zakaria on the merit of holding this second election because of widespread fraud and corruption. "If we don't do that, we would be insulting democracy and I pledge to respect the vote of the people," Karzai said.
But when Abdullah saw the futility in demanding sweeping electoral reform less than a week before the runoff, the challenger surprised everyone, publicly boycotting the election by pulling out because of the fraud, ending any hope of a presidential bid. With this, Hamid Karzai was certified by the elections committee and will serve another five year term, the last he can by the Afghan Constitution.
Unfortunately, for Afghanis, the election turmoil is just the tip of the iceberg. Afghanistan lacks a strong government that has, as seen on election day, utterly failed at containing the Taliban. Furthermore, the fact that this election saga has dragged on for over a month and that the corruption and fraud in it is common knowledge undermines the Karzai government. That is Karzai's first task, to establish an administration that represents the Afghan people and wins their trust and support, not just that of his political friends. The Taliban is committed to the failure of any sort of event that would unite the broken country, explaining the immense chaos that they unleashed on election day.
The process of democracy, already on life support in a country that was ruled by the authoritarian Taliban not too long ago, will only be successful if Afghani citizens feel that with their participation there can be change. Along with the election fraud, the turnout at the polls was extremely low. Many feel this may signal that many citizens were either afraid to vote because of fears of violence or pure apathy to the system. Either way, the fear is that the task of Karzai to create an effective, legitimate government will be slow and difficult with the Taliban seizing every opportunity to derail democracy.
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