Money matters more than leadership By

Money matters more than leadership By?

Instead of voting along ideological lines, most people supported candidates who pledged money or jobs in return for votes even in Kabul. Some voters say candidates paid 1,000 Afs (17 USD) per vote.

Supporters of candidates in Kabul accuse powerful local leaders of twisting people’s arms to force them to vote for their candidates. Many also stuffed ballot boxes in favour of their favourites.

“Many candidates requested us to join their team but I supported the team of Change and Continuity led by Dr Ashraf Ghani because he can eliminate the political, economic and other problems of Afghanistan. We took a conscious decision to support Dr Ghani though most people wanted to join with the candidate that gave money”, says a tribal leader in Farza district, Kabul. He did not want to be identified.

According to him, supporters were trying to get voters by saying if an individual finds 50 people to support their candidate, they would get 50,000 Afs (857 USD). “I myself saw one voter was given 1,000 Afs (17 USD),” he claims.

The tribal leader from Farza accuses candidates and supporters of fanning tribal and language passions. “Votes can be harvested on the basis of whipping up tribal and linguistic allegiances. But our team is not fanatical. We have a nationalist interest,” he claims.

Haji Eqbal Sapai supported ex-foreign minister Zalmai Rassoul in Kapisa province. “It is true that when a candidate wins he puts his relatives in the government. But that is not why we supported Zalmai. Neither did we take money from other candidates,” he says. In the runoff poll, where the contest was between Dr Abdullah Abdullah and Dr Ghani, Rassoul backed the former. Sapai approved the choice. “His (Rassoul’s) team made a good choice. There is place for mujahid in the cabinet.”

Supporters of Qayum Karzai who backed Rassoul in the first round of elections on April 5, chose to go with Ghani in the run-off. Among them is Baseer Sapai who was in charge of Karzai’s team in Kabul. He denies they teamed up for money though he does not deny it happened in many other cases. “Many people appealed to us, said they would work with us, give us their votes but they asked how much money would they give us? This happened between tribal leaders and candidates. Still, there were honest local people who used their votes wisely,” he says.

Sapai divides the voters into three types: those who seek jobs in return for votes; use their votes to extract money; and vote for the love of their country.

There are as many opinions on this as there are voters. “I am tribal leader in Faraj area of Panjsher,” says one man who wanted to remain anonymous. “Afghan voters evaluated the worth of the person they were voting. I am a Tajik and Panjshiri. Initially I was campaigning for Zalmai Rassoul and now I support Dr Ghani. If I was going by tribal or language affiliations, I would have supported Dr Abdullah.”

Some tribal leaders in the north say they have been promised money and others given 1,500 USD (26 USD) to campaign for candidates in their areas. According to people, many of important local people have been purchased by candidates through money.

Colonel Wazir Mohammad, a resident of Kapisa and Ghani supporter, says that giving money to people is now custom for candidates. “I myself have supported without expectation of money. I don’t have any interest and need to join candidates for getting the money; a person offered me 120,000 USD but I rejected it.”

He further says that money for supporting big campaigns came from the central budget of candidates. “We ourselves paid for oil of vehicles, mobile credit cards and food, we didn’t need additional money, and we didn’t want money from them. Our team has not been established based on regionalism; there are Tajiks, Pashtuns, Uzbeks, Hazara and Nuristanis in our team. We have support from various tribes.”

Personal appeal

People have different views on the candidates. Malek Nader is a tribal leader in Parwan province. He says he understands Abdullah. “Afghanistan is an Islamic country, and Dr Abdullah has the love of Afghans because he stayed with people in the north in very tough times. Everywhere we went campaigning, we repeated this message of Abdullah’s resistance years.”

There are similar sentiments for Abdul Rab Rassul Sayyaf. Tribal leader Haji Shaker one of his supporters from Kohistan Awal district, Kapisa, says he campaigned for Sayyaf in the first round of elections, for his being a jihadi. Thereafter, he too supported Abdullah who he says has good relations with Afghanistan’s international allies because he had been a foreign minister.

Haji Shaker was for transparent elections, but he admits there were voters who wanted something in return from candidates since getting even a peon’s job in the government was impossible without contacts.

Tameem Khan who lives in Arzan Qemat area of Kabul and is part of Ghani’s Change and Continuity team says he was confident his candidate would put “Afghanistan back on its feet … sign strategic pacts with other countries and take steps to develop the country at different levels.”

It also mattered to him that Ghani’s “hands were not red with blood” and that he was a “man of knowledge and science”. Young people need such a man, he insists. Commander Qamarudeen who heads Ghani’s team in Kapisa airs similar views. “Afghanistan has a weak economy, and since he is a doctor in economics, he can build up the country.”

Money making

Did money change hands in the elections? Yes, say residents and tribal leaders that Killid interviewed. Mohammad Amin, an Abdullah supporter in Ghorband, Parwan province, says most people were told by tribal leaders that they would get money and gifts for participating in the elections. “Tribal leaders gathered people together; they got more money than other people,” he says.

Other supporters of candidates say they simply campaigned among people, leaving it to them to decide if they want to participate.

There are charges and countercharges about vote buying, but no one has provided evidence. A voter, Naser, in Kohistan Awal district, Kapisa, claims he saw supporters of a particular candidate distribute 500 Afs (9 USD) each to voters. “I myself have seen this and know the people doing so,” he claims.

The long-drawn elections for president were a windfall for drivers. Baroz, a resident of Alasai district of Kapisa province, says he was a driver for a Ghani campaign vehicle. “I was paid 3,000 Afs (50 USD daily). People made even 1,000 USD,” he claims. Zaher Salangi, a member of Parwan provincial council says everyone in the Ghani campaign was paid money.

This was true of all the campaigns. Tareq, a resident of Bagram (Parwan province) says the Rassoul campaign gave each participant 1,000 Afs (17 USD). Sapai admits to agreements between candidates and provincial council members. According to Gul Mohammad, influential elders joined campaigns to earn money. Vehicle owners were promised 1,500 Afs (26 USD) for pasting the photo of a candidate by a particular MP, he claims. “On election day, people were given cash, clothes and even washing soap to vote for a specific candidate. Sometimes voters took the gifts and voted for someone else,” says Gul Mohammad.

Najib who lives in Kabul City told Killid that before the elections, supporters of candidates were heard boasting about how much they expected to “benefit”.

Blood was also spilled by rival supporters. Manan, a teacher and resident of Shookhi in Kapisa province, says he knew two members of a family, one a supporter of Ghani and the other Abdullah, who fought over who would win. “One of them was killed,” he adds.