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Thursday, Oct 14, 2004

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Opinion - Editorials

AN EXPERIMENT IN DEMOCRACY

THE FIRST PRESIDENTIAL election in Afghanistan's history is back on course with the candidates contesting against the incumbent Hamid Karzai giving up their demand for the polls to be annulled. Mr. Karzai's 15 rivals alleged that the election had been vitiated by widespread malpractices and declared that they would boycott the vote count if the exercise was not cancelled. They set aside their demand after the Joint Electoral Management Board (JEMB) promised to set up an independent body to investigate the charges. The offer by the supervisory body, consisting of officials of the Kabul Government and the United Nations, provided the protesters an opportunity to back down without losing face. The candidates are well aware that a thorough investigation cannot be held in a country divided into different fiefdoms. With communications still in a state of disrepair, the investigators will be hard put to complete the task before the votes are counted and the results announced. International observers who monitored the polls did draw attention to several flaws in the electoral system. However, they were of the view that the shortcomings were not of such a magnitude as to warrant annulment of the election.

While the counting of ballots is not likely to be completed before the end of October, an exit poll conducted by an international group showed that Mr. Karzai was poised to win by a significant margin. However, the validity of this finding is questionable given the difficulties of carrying out surveys in Afghanistan and refugee camps in the neighbouring countries. As the leading candidate of the Pakhtoon community, which makes up almost half the population of the country, Mr. Karzai was always expected to have an electoral edge. But it was not certain that the incumbent would cross the 50 per cent mark, which he needs to do if a run-off with the second placed candidate is to be avoided. The nominee of the Northern Alliance and main challenger, Younis Qanooni, had hoped he would be able to persuade the other candidates to withdraw from the race so that he could confront Mr. Karzai directly in the first round. While this hope did not materialise, Mr. Qanooni remains optimistic that there will be a second round and that he will win. The Northern Alliance leader is not likely to make another attempt to have the electoral process annulled even if his calculations go wrong. In turning out in impressive numbers, Afghan voters demonstrated that they have embraced the democratic system. Mr. Qanooni's decision not to boycott the vote count appears to have been influenced by an anxiety not to be seen at odds with the public mood rather than by the JEMB's promise of an investigation or the external monitors' observations on the validity of the election.

A verdict on the future of democracy in multi-ethnic Afghanistan will have to be withheld until a parliament is duly constituted. In holding the presidential election while repeatedly postponing parliamentary polls, the Karzai Government opened itself to the criticism that it was pursuing the agenda of someone else. The timing of the Afghan election was certainly convenient for the United States President, George W. Bush, who will cite the successful completion of the exercise as a foreign policy triumph. Mr. Bush is bound to play up the developments in Afghanistan in the few remaining weeks of his re-election campaign. However, the real winners are the Afghan people who put the horrors of the past behind them and moved decisively to build a new future.

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