Afghanistan: Government Declares Elections Success Amidst Mixed Turnout

Counting the ballots in Afghanistan's second presidential and provincial council elections has begun. Despite some reports of attacks and election irregularities throughout the country, polls closed on August 20 without any major violent disruptions by insurgents.

At an evening news conference in Kabul, the Independent Election Commission and the Afghan government declared the process a success. Meanwhile, representatives of the international community rushed to offer congratulations on the completion of the process that many had feared would be disrupted by a much higher level of violence.

Voter turnout appeared to vary widely across the country, with some areas, especially the more volatile southern provinces, reporting low polling. No official polling figures were available and the country's Independent Election Commission said the actual voter turnout would not be made public for three or four days.

Preliminary results of the counting process are expected to be available by August 25. The certified results will take much longer, however, and can be released only after the Electoral Complaints Commission has completed its investigation into any complaints it receives.

If no candidate clears 51 percent in the first round, a runoff will be held. Opinion on the advantages of a second round is sharply divided. While some feel that the best option is to complete the process as quickly and cleanly as possible, leaving no room for dissension and possible instability, others believe a second round would be a healthy precedent for a nascent democracy, demonstrating the complexity of their options to voters.

Sporadic complaints of electoral irregularities were reported. But in the absence of any definitive election-related data, it was difficult to judge the extent to which the voting -- the first to be led by Afghan institutions -- was free and fair. Moreover, an August 18 government directive that called on media organizations not to report on any incident of violence during the polling hours further hampered the flow of information.

In the Tajurbai High School in Charikar, about an hour north of Kabul, Zubaida Shaheeba a doctor in the local hospital arrived in a burkha and with three children to cast her vote. While she refused to say for whom she had voted, the area is a stronghold of the Tajik-led Northern Alliance and most voters were casting their ballots for Dr. Abdullah Abdullah, a former foreign minister.

Nearby, at the Mir Ali Ahmed Shaheed High School, 205 men and 88 women had voted by midmorning -- a reasonable turnout -- and election observers were closely monitoring the process.

While the ethnicity of the candidate appeared to be a primary motivation in these districts, voters also cited disenchantment with the President Hamid Karzai's administration. In an indication of apathy, even polling staff in several polling stations in the area did not appear to have voted, with several telling EurasiaNet they were too busy or had lost their cards or had found it difficult to obtain one. In a mosque that was serving as a temporary polling station, and situated only 200 meters from the US military base at Bagram, Ismatullah and Mohammed Fahim said they had voted in the hope of peace.

Journalists visiting that station were prevented from asking questions about the polling process after initial difficulty in getting entry, despite being accredited to observe the electoral process.

Back in Kabul, the streets were deserted and most businesses closed. Some polling stations saw a brisk turnout, according to voters. Farid, a taxi driver, who had told EurasiaNet last month that he would vote for Karzai even though he didn't like him, opted to vote for Abdullah instead. Though Ramazan Bashardost was his favorite candidate, he decided to back Abdullah who had a better chance of winning against Karzai, he said.

In addition to sporadic incidents reported around the country, violence hit the capital when two armed insurgents holed up in a building were reportedly shot dead by security forces.

Although journalists complained that security forces barred them from covering the Kabul clash, the government's directive not to report on violence had a mixed impact. International media ignored it and some Afghan media outlets like the independent Pajhwok Afghan News opposed the ban with a strongly worded statement, saying such orders did not have any basis in the Afghan constitution or principles of democracy.

But many Afghan media outlets appeared to have bowed to official pressure. Outlets that followed the directive were praised by the head of the National Security Directorate, Amrullah Saleh, "for complying with the government's rules and regulations." The head of the Independent Election Commission Azizullah Lodin -- who had supported the directive -- said the media were free to criticize in a positive way, as long as it did not interfere with the Commission's work.

In a joint press conference during the evening of August 20, a phalanx of top government officials flanked Lodin and proclaimed the elections to be a success, describing election day as a government victory over the radical Islamic insurgency. At the event, the ministers of interior and defense and the head of the National Security Directorate described several instances where security forces had discovered and disrupted insurgent plants of attack.

Responding to the election process, the UN's top man in Afghanistan, Kai Eide, said the fact that elections had taken place was itself an achievement since the possibility of holding elections in the current situation had itself been in doubt.

Some observers, however, disputed the notion that the relative calm on August marked a major triumph for the government. They pointed out that the Taliban and other insurgent groups had already demonstrated their capabilities in recent weeks, staging targeted attacks, showing they could have disrupted the elections if they wished. That they did not, the observers add, indicates that the opposition is growing more sophisticated and concerned for civilian casualties.

The UN envoy said the security situation was better than had been feared, that young Afghans had shown their confidence in the democratic process and that, overall, the day had been good for Afghanistan. He said the international community expected the political leadership and the other parts of the establishment to make sure there was no instability following the elections and to come together and unite behind a common agenda.