Voting to make a difference in southeast

Voting to make a difference in southeast

By Ismail Larawai

The electorate in Paktia, Paktika, Khost and Logar exercised their franchise in the hope of bringing positive change through the presidential polls.

Candidates used many tactics to win over voters: religious, tribal, linguistic, partisan and sectarian. This coloured their many promises for future economic and social development.

Leading presidential candidates in the fray for the April 5 poll were Abdullah Abdullah, Ashraf Ghani, Ustad Abdul Rab Rassul Sayyaf and Zalmai Rassoul.

Voters here were divided in two groups: those with nationalistic feelings who went to voting centres, despite threats to their lives, with the intention of fulfilling their constitutional responsibility; others used partisan and sectarian differences to reaffirm the divide in the nation. Killid conducted some 60 interviews.

After 13 years, in a situation where administrative corruption is widespread, and so also is insecurity, people were keen to use the election to install a government that could address their concerns.

Perhaps, another reason for the high voter turnout was the desire to see a transfer of political power, from one president to the other, according to the will of ordinary people.

In national interest

Those who used their votes for this reason went back to polling booths on June 14 for the second round of elections between the two frontrunners of the April 5 poll – Abdullah and Ghani.

Mujahid, resident of Khost says, “We used our votes to serve our country.”

Shafiqullah a resident of Paktia echoes Mujahid and adds, “We know the value of our votes; it puts someone in power.”

Beside voters, there are some who campaigned in the elections as volunteers, using their own financial resources without any expectation and only out of a feeling of nationalism.

Keramat Khan Khpelwak, representative of Ghani’s Change and Continuity team in Khost counts himself as one such person. He considers his a struggle for a better future for the country.

Khpelwak says, “Dr Ghani is the only person in whom we see salvation for Afghanistan. We consider him suitable for taking us out of this crisis.”

Abdullah’s appeal is in the fact that he is a mujahid. Hedayatullah Mosawe, resident of Logar province says, “We support him without seeking any privilege, because he is a mujahid and remained in Afghanistan.”

Financial incentives

There are concerns about buying votes and luring voters with promises of jobs. Many candidates are reported to have pleased the public with money while some others made promises to give government jobs in return for votes.

There are also voters who received financial privileges from one candidate but gave their vote to the other candidate.

Bakhtawar Jan is a resident of Khost. “They gave us 1,000 Pakistani rupees (about 10 USD) but my vote was for Ashraf Ghani.”

Qalam Khan Abid says the same thing in a different way. “We made money from one but voted for the other.”

Supporters of candidates admit that many people expected money for their votes. Arifullah Pashtun, an official in Zalmai Rassoul’s team, Moderation, Equality and Reconstruction, in Khost and representative of the province in the Senate accepts that during the two rounds of campaigning, people expected money from the pockets of candidates. While he denied paying, he says it is possible that some people in their team did.

According to Pashtun, “Generally IEC (Independent Election Commission) employees are bought by money in all provinces, and voters are also paid.”

Ethnic bonds

Ethnic influences are still strong, and tribal leaders hold sway in these areas. People trust the mullah and malik, and may cast their vote as they advice.

Samar Gul, resident of Paktia says that people followed tribal leaders because there are no independent voices in the campaign.

Ghani’s team has strong ethnic backers in Paktia. Haji Khawani Jahani says he used his influence in his tribe to work for “Dr Saheb”.

Relations

Personal relations matter in the elections. Pashtun from Khost thinks that while internal squabbles in Rassoul’s team eventually led to his defeat – he had Karzai’s backing in the presidential race, but in the April 5 election he stood at third place – he supported the ex-foreign minister because of their “personal and working relations”.

Among supporters of Abdullah, friendships from the time of jihad counted as a big reason. Dr Mohammad Ibrahim Mushfiq, head of the Reform and Partnership team in Khost and member of Jamiat-e-Islami party was open about their closeness. He told Killid, “Dr Abdullah is our long-time friend; we have known him since we were young and his honesty, sincerity, jihadi desire make us ready for any sacrifice.”

Commander Ghulam Yahya Hussain Khail known as Lashgar, member of Jamiat party and provincial director of Abdullah’s team in Logar says, “We chose Dr Abdullah because he has made sacrifices for the freedom of Afghanistan over the last 36 years and fought here. He is a complete Afghan, mujahid and Muslim.”

Dr Mohammad Ibrahim Mushfiq from the Jamiat is dismissive of criticism that the party’s “hands are coloured with blood”. “In Afghanistan, first the almighty God is powerful and then our team. People just backbite that Jamiat party is warlords, and their hands are coloured with people’s blood … In Afghanistan no one can accuse us of this today or tomorrow.”

Abdul Hanan Haq Wayoon, representing Paktia in the Senate and head of Sayyaf’s electoral team, says they won the votes due to the candidate’s jihadi background and influence of Dawat party. In the run-off, they supported Abdullah.

Language and ethnicity

Haji Ismail from Logar, a member of Afghan Millat Party, which supported Ghani says, “Logar supported Ghani because his ancestors are from here, and also many people are Ahmadzais (Ghani’s tribe).”

Abdullah’s stronghold is in the Northern Provinces while Ghani has support in the south.

Haji Ismail agrees tribal affiliations counted among voters, but Ghani is a “suitable leader”, he avers.

Political support

Candidates got support from elected members of the provincial councils, Senate and Parliament.

Sayed Karim Khaksar, director of the Khost provincial council (he is the brother of Ghazni Nawaz Tanai, the head of the Afghan Tribal Solidarity) is a big Abdullah supporter.

Meanwhile, the directors of provincial councils in Paktia and Logar sided with Ghani while their counterpart in Paktika remained neutral.

Maryam Paktin, member of the Paktia provincial council says she is an Abdullah supporter. Asked why, she replies, “I have no special reason.”

Liaqat Babakarkhail, MP from Khost calls Ghani a “global thinker … honest, sincere and his hands are not coloured in blood.”

Sayed Karim Khaksar, director of the Khost provincial council backs Abdullah for his contribution to “national unity” as a jihadi.

Campaign costs

Abdullah’s campaign manager in Khost, Dr Mohammad Ibrahim Mushfiq, says they needed very little money and it came from their own pockets.

Haji Ismail, an official in Ghani’s team in Logar and provincial representative of the Afghan Millat party says, “We travelled to districts for meetings where we discussed and shared plans and programmes of our candidate.”

According to Babakarkhail, supporters gave all the money to the Ghani campaign in Khost.

Ahmadullah Ahmadi, a civil society activist in Paktia says, “Ajmal Zazai is a trader who spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in the Ghani campaign. Also we can name Humayon Humayon, MP from Khost, and Keramat Khan Khpelwak as other businessmen (who contributed).”

Dr Abdul Wali Wakil, director of Logar provincial council says, “The first day when Dr Ghani nominated himself, his supporters vowed they would take care of all the campaign expenses. They provided cars, cash and the use of some of their houses.”