So much money, time, blood, toil, tears, and sweat invested in Saturday’s presidential election in Afghanistan. Bush needed it to work to validate his nation-building schemes in Iraq as well as Afghanistan. It had been widely assumed to be a foregone conclusion that Karzai was going to win. There was allegation that the U.S. ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad was heavily leaning on influential Afghans to sway the election in Karzai’s favor.
The Taliban tried to attack and kill election workers and voters (and succeeded in a few instances), but Afghan voters braved the dangers and went ahead. Unfortunately, there was a serious screwup when the wrong kind of ink was used to mark the fingers of those who had already voted. Indelible ink was supposed to be used to prevent anyone voting twice, but removable ink was substituted.
On the big day, suddenly all 15 of Karzai’s presidential candidate rivals pulled out of the race and charged it was corrupt and invalid. They gathered in the home of one of the 15 and issued a petition saying they would not recognize the results because the FUBAR with the ink opened the way for widespread fraud. Then Khalilzad showed up there, saying he “just wanted to help.” Many Afghans think of him as the American puppet master, and some Afghans outside the house joked saying all the problems would be solved now because “the big man has arrived.”
Karzai will go on to claim victory and legitimacy, but seriously, his legitimacy may have been shot full of holes now. I want to know what Jimmy Carter has to say about it, although I don’t know if he went to Afghanistan to monitor (if not, he really, really should have). Debate: any chance of Karzai overcoming the shadow of taint over his election? Have Afghanistan’s voters been cheated?
It’s all over the BBC front page. Here’s a positive story from Kandahar.
I suspect that the legitimacy of Karzai will be less of an issue to people who have not had a democratic voice before, than it will be to the international community. Still sucks, though.
Well, the news today is that the Afghanistan election protest looks like it’s “running out of steam.” One of the 15 has denied taking part in the protest. But maybe it’s still too early to say “Never mind…” in an Emily Litella voice.
Everybody knew the election was going to go ahead anyway. Everybody knew Karzai would win and take office anyway, regardless of any actions taken by the rival candidates. The issue, however, is how the Afghan body politic will view Karzai’s legitimacy from now on, whether it will be under a cloud because it’s widely felt that the election was rigged by the machinations of Khalilzad.
He’s not saying it was rigged, he’s saying it was perceived to be rigged. And when discussing how a populace will view the legitimacy of a certain elected official, perception is all that matters.
Well, there was enough of a perception that it forced the formation of an independent commission. Of course, it could have just been a way for opposition leaders to save face.
Are you basing your assertion that it looks rigged (to the Afghan people) on news stories regarding the other candidates?
I haven’t heard anything regarding public opinion yet. Not looking for a cite but if you got one I would like to read it. I’m really getting tired of dial up.
IMO, the turnout of this election is probably a big deal in Afghanistan. I can’t imagine the joy and feelings of empowerment the women must be experiencing.
