Afghans see foreign hand in poll delay
By Shapoor Saber
HERAT - The recent decision to postpone Afghanistan's parliamentary election by
four months to September has been greeted with dismay by Afghans who think it
is a breach of the constitution and has been imposed by foreign powers.
The Independent Election Commission (IEC) announced that the poll would take
place on September 18 instead of May 22 as required by the constitution.
Although the IEC cited a lack of funds and poor security and logistics as the
reasons behind the postponement, many Afghan people and political experts do
not believe it.
IEC spokesman Nur Mohammad, asked about these doubts, said, "We respect the
people's opinion, but we are determined to
hold the election in accordance [with] national and international standards."
The director of the IEC in Herat province, Zia Ahmad Zia, said he did not see
the postponement as a violation of the constitution and believed the commission
had the necessary authority to decide the date.
A spokesman for the United Nations Assistance Mission to Afghanistan (UNAMA),
Nazifollah Salarzai, told a news conference in Kabul that UNAMA would not
provide any assistance for the parliamentary election unless basic reforms took
place within the IEC.
Another UNAMA spokesman, Halim Sediq, stressed the need for reform of the IEC,
telling a news conference, "We want a transparent commission so that we will
have a transparent parliamentary election, unlike the presidential election."
He was referring to last year's re-election of President Hamid Karzai after a
vote that was widely seen as tainted by electoral fraud as well as a lack of
security and low voter turnout. Mohammed made clear international criticism of
that poll and demands for the commission to be purged of those who tolerated
corruption had sunk in.
"After the presidential and provincial council election, the commission
conducted some reforms, which caused 6,000 election workers to be blacklisted
by the commission. Besides, directors of the IEC in four provinces - Kandahar,
Nangarhar, Ghazni and Paktika - have been removed and the reform is still in
process. Meanwhile, some provincial and central workers of the commission have
been suspended," he said.
He added that the commission would in the future only hire individuals who were
committed to the principles of the IEC: "The election commission of Afghanistan
accepts and welcomes preconditions and suggestions that are necessary for
reform and improvement of the process."
Karzai won the president election when his challenger Abdullah Abdullah
withdrew from the race after Karzai rejected his demands for action against the
IEC, including removing its director, Azizollah Ludin.
The suspicion that foreign powers lie behind the postponement of the election
is rooted in Afghanistan's colonial past and the view that other countries have
always interfered. Such countries - usually not named - want everything in
Afghanistan to be organized in way that suits their interests, people believe.
The United States and Britain are the leading contributors of troops to the
International Security Assistance Force, the UN-established, North Atlantic
Treaty Organization-led security and development mission.
Nasir Ahmad Lotfi, a resident of the western province of Herat, believes that
foreign powers do not respect the laws of Afghanistan, "[The postponement] has
been done by [them], because they want to send individuals to the parliament
who will do their bidding. They want to achieve their aims this way.
"The support of some Western countries for the postponement of the
parliamentary election shows their level of respect for the Afghan
constitution."
Homayun Azizi, a former speaker of the provincial council in Herat, told the
Institute for War and Peace Reporting, "Some Western countries present in
Afghanistan want to create a weak and semi-legitimate parliament the same as
they have created a weak government. The state will be forced to accept
whatever the foreigners want until they have achieved their goals."
Others are critical of the authorities for the election delay.
Golsum Sediqi, director of a women lawyer association in western Afghanistan,
says officials could not expect people and institutions to respect the
constitution and other laws anymore, because they had violated the law by
delaying the ballot.
"Breaking the law by officials has caused great damage to the government,
because it means the Taliban, which is the biggest opposition group and itself
violates the constitution, has achieved its goal. The government will not be
able to tell the opposition to accept the constitution anymore, because the
government itself has broken the law. Now, the government should not expect the
Taliban to agree with it."
Basir Begzad, who is standing in the parliamentary election for Herat province,
also questions the commission's stated reasons for the postponement and said it
amounted to a flagrant breach of the constitution.
"The election commission is to blame in this regard, because it has not been
able to fulfill the demands of the international community, which has caused
the international community to stop cooperation with the commission," he said.
Mohammad Rafiq Shahir, a director of the Experts' Council in Herat province,
said Karzai was mainly to blame for the postponement.
"First, President Hamid Karzai violated the law during the second presidential
election of Afghanistan which promoted the culture of violation of the law in
the country ... he wants to place individuals in the future parliament who
agree with his decisions," he said.
Herat journalist Wali Mohammad Hadid believes the president imposed the delay
to organize the parliamentary election to suit himself. He also said Karzai
would oppose the removal of senior IEC officials.
"High-ranking commission officials have done a great service during the
presidential election for Hamid Karzai. Karzai does not want to remove them
from their positions. For this reason, he postponed the election so that he
will be able to hold the election the way he wishes," he said.
Asked about the allegations against the president, Siamak Herawi, his deputy
spokesman, said, "The claims made by ordinary people and analysts are their own
opinions and democracy gives them the chance to express their views but they
are not based on the truth. The truth was the lack of budget, bad security and
other problems caused the elections to be delayed.
"The president has never interfered in the work of the electoral commission and
has respected the decisions made by the commission. The president has always
been independent and has never been influenced by foreigners in making
decisions.
"We faced many problems in the past [presidential] elections due to the
interference by foreigners. In the upcoming [parliamentary] elections
foreigners will be given the right to act only as observers and they will not
be given any right to interfere in our electoral affairs."
Head
Office: Unit B, 16/F, Li Dong Building, No. 9 Li Yuen Street East,
Central, Hong Kong Thailand Bureau:
11/13 Petchkasem Road, Hua Hin, Prachuab Kirikhan, Thailand 77110
