Different ethnicities joined hands in the north

Different ethnicities joined hands in the north

Language and ethnicity were the primary influences but not the only reality in voting in five northern provinces in the 2015 presidential polls, which went into two rounds.

Afghans voted on April 5 and June 14 in presidential elections. There was a large turnout in the north, in the provinces of Balkh, Samangan, Jawzjan, Sar-e-Pol and Faryab which have more Tajiks, Uzbeks and Hazaras than Pashtuns.

Jumbish-i-Milli, Hezb-e-Jamiat Islami and Hezb-e-Wahdat Islami are among the largest parties in the north.

Atta Mohammad Noor, governor of Balkh and a leading member of Jamiat Islami, Mohammad Mohaqeq, leader of Hezb-e-Wahdat Islami and General Rashid Dostum, leader of Jumbish-i-Milli were the leading politicians.

Experience of previous elections showed that tribal, regional and religious affiliations; promises of participation in cabinet and money played a role in deciding voters’ preference for candidates.

April 5 election

To what extent did village or tribal elders influence voters? Killid* interviewed some 70 people – voters and representatives of the respective candidates.

Abdullah Fetrat, a member of Dr Abdullah Abdullah’s Reform and Partnership team in Balkh says, “I am a supporter of Hezb-e-Jamiat Islami’s objectives and Dr Abdullah is supported by Hezb-e-Jamiat Islami. Moreover, Dr Abdullah has stayed for years by his people and never left them alone; he shared good and bad days of Afghanistan.”

Mohammad Asif Azimi, representative from Samangan in the Upper House who is also a member of Abdullah’s team says, “I have been a member of Jamiat Islami from my young days. It is because the aims and objectives of Jamiat Islami are our aims and wishes.”

Abdul Aziz, local elder in Namangan province says he is also a Jamiat Islami supporter, and so is Dr Abdullah. NAMANGAN IS IN UZBEKISTAN?

But Nabia Mustafa Zada, member of Jawzjan provincial assembly and member of Hezb-e-Junbish Milli supported Dr Ashraf Ghani because his first deputy was his party leader, General Rashid Dostum. Likewise Malik Khan Azimi, also a member of Hezb-e-Junbish Milli. “I supported Change and Continuity team (Ghani’s team) as decided by the Jumbish leadership.” A sentiment echoed by Rahmatullah Turkestani, head of the Faryab provincial assembly and deputy leader of Junbish party.

Parties have ethnic identities. Hazaras support Hezb-e-Wahdat Islami, while Tajiks are pro-Hezb-e-Jamiat Islami and Uzbeks are affiliated to Hezb-e-Junbish Milli led by General Dostum.

Mohammad Nabi Aser, journalist and social activist in Balkh says: “Up to the 1980s, there were national parties in Afghanistan but that changed in the civil war. Now, if anyone says a party is not tribal, it is wrong. There may be exceptions sometime due to geography and other factors, but only a minority of members in a party may be from another tribe.”

Some of the voters Killid interviewed sought to focus on the candidates’ personal attributes and competency to explain their support for them. Time and again, we were told that Abdullah had stayed with the Afghan people through bad and good times.

Asadullah Khuram, head of Sar-e Pol provincial assembly says: “Because I have a better understanding of Dr Abdullah and his team, I am supporting him.”

Abdullah Fetrat described Dr Abdullah as competent candidate. “He (also) knows the problems of people,” he says.

Abdul Aziz, local elder in Namangan province says, “I am a sincere member of the Jamiat party. Dr Abdullah took part in jihad, and stayed among his people from the beginning to the end. We have a better understanding of him; that’s why we support him.”

Those who support Ghani believe he is very able and the right candidate for Afghanistan in the current situation.

Tora Baz Stanikzai, a Ghani supporter in Balkh province says: “Dr Ashraf Ghani is a planner. He can turn Afghanistan into a stable and self sufficient country because he has good security, economic and developmental programmes and this is the reason I am supporting him.”

Sayed Hayatullah Alami, member of Sar-e Pol provincial assembly says: “Dr Ashraf Ghani with his capabilities and (ideas for) programmes can manage Afghanistan at this critical time and lead us to stability.”

There are others who believe that the only difference between the presidential polls and earlier elections was that for the first time people voted for competence and an agenda.

Ahmad Zia Ferozpor, university lecturer in Balkh believes that people of Afghanistan are gradually becoming politically mature and taking the decision of who to vote for themselves. They have got enough experience from past elections and they know who deserves their votes.

Sayed Hayatullah Alami, member of Sar-e Pol provincial assembly says: “If we are to compare this election with elections of other years, there is a change and people came to vote with awareness; despite tribal, religious and language issues on the table, there were a variety of influences in the April 5 poll.”

But this is only one aspect of the polling. The bigger influences were, in fact, tribal and language links to candidates. Killid’s investigation shows that votes in the north were divided in three-ways: between Tajiks, Hazaras and Uzbeks.

Since the Hazara leader Mohammad Mohaqeq was second deputy to Abdullah and Atta Mohammad Noor was pro-Reform and Partnership, Hazara and Tajik votes were cast in favour of Abdullah. The votes of Uzbeks – who supported General Dostum – and Pashtuns in the north went to Ghani.

Ethnic break-up

Balkh, where the majority is Tajiks and Hazaras, Abdullah emerged the winner.

Samangan which has a mix of Tajiks and Uzbeks, the difference between the two candidates was not huge.

But the number of votes cast in Jawzjan, Sar-e Pol and Faryab provinces where there are Uzbeks reveal that electoral support was based on tribal and language affiliations.

The partnership of Ashraf Ghani and Dostum won the majority of votes in all these provinces.

Sayed Hayatullah Alami, member of Sar-e Pol provincial assembly says, “Ethnicity and language mattered in the April 5 polls. For instance, Uzbeks in Sar-e Pol province voted for the team that General Dostum is part of because he is trusted by them. Meanwhile, Hazaras in Sar-e Pol supported Dr Abdullah because leading personalities of their tribe like Mohaqeq, Alami Balkhi, Ustad Akbari and Dr Ali Kazemi supported him.”

Ethnic variety

What is interesting, however, is that ethnicity and language linkages did not prevent different political and tribal leaders from being part of the same electoral team. The ethnic variety is driven by the tendency of ethnic leaders to take part in the cabinet. There are unconfirmed reports of money changing hands during elections. Candidates’ supporters deny any wrongdoing but voters say they have heard of votes being sold in the April 5 poll.

Mawlawi Abdul Hai Hayat, head of the provincial assembly of Jawzjan province who heads Ghani’s team in the province says he didn’t face such a problem.

But Sayed Hayatullah Alami, member of Sar-e Pol provincial assembly and Ghani supporter does not reject the allegations that voters have asked for money. He adds, “This issue was repeated; people came to us and asked for money against their votes.”

Citizens of the north also speak about sale of votes and exchange of cash by campaigners.

Rezwanullah Amiri, resident of Samangan province says, “There was no promise of payment for me but I heard that electoral teams promised money against the support of some of our friends.”

According to Shahbuddin, resident of Jawzjan, “Money dealings were struck among people in Jawzjan province.” He claims he is a witness to members of an electoral team assigned in voting centres to pay money against votes.”

Ahmad Naweed Malikzada, another resident from Jawzjan province says, “It happened in Jawzjan when a tribal leader received money from a specific team and then made the people vote for that team.”

There are also reports that leaders of the two teams sent money to the northern provinces for distribution among voters.

Asadullah Khuram, head of the provincial assembly of Sar-e-Pol says, “Many people in the province entered into money dealings because of their economic problems.”

Khuram says that in Sayad and Kohistanat districts where Tajiks and Aimaqs live, Abdullah should have won most of the votes but due to money dealings most votes were cast in Ghani’s favour.

He adds that the practice was widespread in most areas in Sar-e Pol province. The money was sent to the provinces by the leadership of candidates’ teams.

Voting percentages in June 14 run-off

In Balkh, 394,000 voted. Some 89 percent voted in favor of Ghani and the rest for Abdullah. In Namangan 83 percent of the total votes (224,506) was for Ghani. In Jawzjan, 160,000 voters participated in the second round of elections. The majority (65 percent) voted for Ghani. The majority of Sar-e Pol’s voters (72 percent of 132,947) voted for Abdullah. In Faryab, Ghani won 80 percent of the total 331,123 votes cast.

Both teams insisted that campaigns were bankrolled by “people themselves”. Sayed Ahmad Saeed, member of the Change and Continuity team says, “People spontaneously took part in our gatherings and our expenditures were not huge for the gatherings.”

Was there government interference? Zabiullah Fetrat of the Reform and Partnership team complains there was and says, “A certain governor in the north, despite holding a government position, participated in campaigns and used state resources in favor of a particular candidate which was in conflict with national interests.” He declined to name the governor.

*Suhail Saba, Radio Killid, North of Afghanistan.