Afghan Presidential Candidates Hold Rallies in Search of Votes
By VOA News
14 August 2009
Afghanistan's top presidential contenders traveled the country Friday, holding rallies in search of votes ahead of next week's presidential elections.
President Hamid Karzai, the frontrunner, was due in the western city of Herat. Second in the polls, Abdullah Abdullah, is to meet supporters in the central province of Dai Kundi. Candidate Ashraf Ghani is campaigning in southern Zabul province.
A new poll released Friday by the U.S.-funded International Republican Institute says Mr. Karzai is likely to win the August 20 election.
The poll of 2,400 people taken in July shows the incumbent president with 44 percent of the vote, while former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah is in second place with 26 percent of the vote. Candidate Ramazan Bashardost ranked at 10 percent, and Ashraf Ghani doubled his support to six percent.
A candidate needs to win more than 50 percent of the vote to avoid a run-off election.
Also Friday, a New York-based human rights group is accusing Afghan President Hamid Karzai of making "an unthinkable deal" in order to win re-election. Human Rights Watch says Mr. Karzai has allowed a controversial marriage law to go into effect with only minimal changes in order to win more votes.
Critics of the law say it legalizes marital rape by requiring a woman to have sex with her husband every four days, and that it prohibits a woman from leaving her home without her husband's permission.
Afghan officials said earlier this year that the most contentious elements of the law had been dropped. But Human Rights Watch says a final version of the law published late last month still allows a husband to deny his wife food if she refuses to have sex.
The law first sparked international outrage - including condemnation from the United States, the United Nations and NATO - after it was signed by Mr. Karzai in March, and the Afghan leader quickly suspended its implementation.
The law only applies to Shi'ite Muslims, who make up less than 20 percent of Afghanistan's population.
Although Afghanistan's constitution calls for equal rights for men and women, it also allows the Shi'ite community to have a separate family law based on religious tradition.
One leading Afghan cleric, Mohammad Asif Mohseni, who defended the law said any changes would violate the constitutional rights of Afghanistan's Shi'ite community.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP.
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