The public is waiting for the end of the election process – the president’s office has set a deadline, and the international community has called for the speeding up of the process.
The public is waiting for the end of the election process – the president’s office has set a deadline, and the international community has called for the speeding up of the process. But the slow pace of auditing marred by bickering is testing public patience.
In one month only 53 percent of votes have been recounted and the crucial process of cancellation of votes – votes cast by fraud – has not even started.
Noor Mohammad Noor, the spokesperson of the Independent Election Commission (IEC), said the commission has been meeting its targets, but Mahdi Hashmi, the media observer, was sceptical about the recounting ending by August 31 in view of the many instances of disruption of the process. Supporters of Abdullah Abdullah traded blows with IEC officials on Aug 19, injuring seven people.
The 2014 presidential election has turned out like no other election anywhere. Farzana Samin, a political analyst and writer, compared it to the recent poll in Turkey. “We saw when Erdogan (Turkish premier Recep Tayip Erdogan) won the election to become Turkey’s 12th president his rival congratulated him on his victory,” she said.
The election process has been weakened by tensions between competing candidates and dissatisfaction with the national unity government, a plan hatched outside the constitution to take the country out of crisis.
President Hamid Karzai may have no choice but to extend the date for the swearing in of the new president.
Ali Amiri, writer and a member of Abdullah’s team, considers political disagreements are natural in a country with a newly established democracy. He urges people to be patient, and let the incoming president win the support of at least half the voters – a process that perforce involves the recounting of votes and consultations between the Ashraf Ghani and Abdullah teams.
A smooth transition of power is essential not just for the sake of democratic order in Afghanistan but also for the international community which has a vested interest in securing peace in the country.
Inevitable anxieties
The long-running process of appointing a new president has sparked rumours of the establishment of an interim government – a report published in the New York Times, which was strongly dismissed as baseless and the reporter was summoned to the Attorney General’s Office on the basis of a complaint filed.
Political observer Misam Ghaznawi considers the anxiety and rush to find a successor to Karzai are inevitable but it should soon draw to a close, and the fears of people should be resolved because the unpredictable situation has caused a lot of trouble for ordinary citizens. Political uncertainty has slowed down the Afghan economy, spiked joblessness and worsened poverty.
Some political experts like Waseq Husaini, a lecturer in Kabul University, think that were the two presidential rivals agree on the structure of the proposed national unity government the process of auditing of votes would accelerate.
The two have to agree on how power will be divided to their mutual satisfaction in a government where both will be treated as winners whatever the outcome of the audit, he thinks.
Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani have so far reached a broad understanding. Fazel Sangcharaki, the spokesperson of Abdullah’s team, said the remaining points of disagreement which include resolution of what the powers of the chief executive and some others should be would be reached soon.
Gulab Mangal, a member of Ashraf Ghani’s team, did not think any of the unresolved problems were major issues.
Political observers like Mohammad Qarabaghi urge the presidential rivals to settle differences because the country is facing bankruptcy. The government may not be able to pay salaries, he warns.
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