Afghanistan runs out of ballot papers as Afghans flock in large numbers
6 April 2014, 00:23 -- Afghanistan's landmark presidential election on Saturday was marred by a shortage of ballot papers that left many voters still queuing to cast their votes as polling were due to close, as the organizers appeared unprepared for such a high turnout. The independent election commission ordered voting to be extended by at least an hour, with ballot papers being dispatched to where they were needed for people to vote for a successor to President Hamid Karzai.
'People did not expect this number of people to come out to vote,' Toryalai Wesa, governor of the southern city of Kandahar, told reporters. 'They thought turnout would be similar to the past and that's why they sent fewer voting materials this time'.
In the capital, Kabul, many polling stations decided to extend voting hours way beyond the official closing time of 4pm (1130 GMT) to allow voters to cast their ballots.
Afghan elections: heavy turnout despite tangible Taliban threats
Ten hours of voting in war-torn Afghanistan saw a tremendous turnout, including in some of the most dangerous areas of the country. Citizens flocked to the polling stations in their thousands to cast a vote in the ballot box in what seems to be the first democratic power shift in Afghanistan. And this despite all threat of violence by the Taliban, who vowed to disrupt the calm election process.
This seems to be the most transparent electoral event for the past dozens of years, notably as compared to Hamid Karzai's re-election back in 2009.
To provide security for the voting, the Afghan government mobilized its entire military and police forces, overall some 350,000, backed up by roughly 53,000 NATO coalition troops – although the Americans and their allies only intended to get involved in the case of an emergency.
Still, locally, there have been recorded instances of violence. A bomb set off at a polling place in the Mohammad Agha district of Logar killing two and wounding two others, but the polling place reopened half an hour later, according to the district governor, Abdul Hamid. On the election threshold there were also contionuous attacks on foreigners, notably foreign journalists and observers, which kept most of them at bay during the Saturday vote, even forcing to leave the country.
Along with the threat of violence, the legacy of past election fraud was looming over Saturday's voting. The authorities ran to extremes to try to guarantee a credible election to meet international sponsors' expections. Just to note, the West has pledged to continue aiding war-weary Afghanistan with billions of dollars, but wants to be assured of an election free from the fraud that discredited the 2009 vote.
What distinguished this vote from previous elections was certainly also a considerable turnout among women.
Moreover, many are on provincial ballot papers, and two are even running for vice president, marking the first time a woman has ever run for national office in Afghanistan.
Many feared there was a chance that Mr. Karzai may cancel the cross-country vote on security grounds or try to amend the constitution to stay in power longer, but this did not come true, observers note.
Whatever fears and Karzai's probable bias for some candidate, the election polls closed today and electoral staff in blue vests with the Independent Election Commission logo carefully took the ballots out of the boxes in pictures broadcast live on national television Saturday.
Polls begin to close in Afghan election - officials
Polling stations in Saturday's election to choose a successor to Afghan President Hamid Karzai officially closed at 5:00 pm (12:30 GMT), officials said, after a day without major security incidents, AFP reports. But voting was set to continue for some time as voters in line at polling stations would be allowed to cast their ballot, a senior official with the Independent Election Commission said.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
| Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list |
|
|
|
