Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s chief political rival yesterday agreed to take part in the Nov. 7 runoff election, setting the stage for a high-stakes showdown in the face of Taliban threats and approaching winter snows.
Former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah made his comment to reporters one day after Karzai bowed to intense US and international pressure and accepted the findings of a UN-backed panel that there had been massive fraud on his behalf in the Aug. 20 vote.
Those findings showed Karzai failed to win the 50 percent required to avoid a runoff.
POLL RESULTS
The government-appointed Independent Election Commission (IEC) told a press conference yesterday that Karzai secured 49.67 percent of the vote, down from around 55 percent in preliminary results, while Abdullah secured 30.59 percent, up from the preliminary result of 28 percent.
The UN mission in Afghanistan, which provides assistance with election-related operations, said preparations were under way to block any risk of mass fraud.
Aleem Siddique, a spokesman for the UN mission, said 200 of 380 district election chiefs from the IEC were being replaced after the watchdog found evidence of widespread fraud and vote-fixing.
“More than half of the district field coordinators are being replaced to prevent any attempted fraud or because there have been complaints made against them by candidates and observers,” Siddique said.
Afghanistan now faces a logistical nightmare, having just over two weeks to prepare for a second round of voting as the harsh and fast-approaching Afghan winter, which makes much of the mountainous country inaccessible, closes in. The UN said distribution of ballots would begin today.
DIFFICULTIES
Finding replacements for election workers implicated in fraud will be difficult. The government had to scramble this summer to recruit enough election officials and poll workers, especially at voting stations for women. It’s unclear if they would be able to fill open posts with better-qualified people.
“It is hard to see how a second round can be credible unless women’s security and access to the polls is dramatically improved,” said Rachel Reid, a researcher with Human Rights Watch in Kabul.
Abdullah said US and Afghan forces also must provide security to prevent a repeat of a wave of Taliban attacks in August that killed dozens. In some areas, militants cut off the ink-marked fingers of people who had voted.
Voters “are taking a risk in some parts of the country and they should be confident that that risk is worthwhile,” said Abdullah, who said he called Karzai to thank him for agreeing to hold the second-round. “I would like to see that our people are participating without an environment and atmosphere of fear and intimidation.”
However, he conceded that conceded security was far from perfect.
“There are some circumstances that we cannot change in the coming 15 days, like areas which Taliban can threaten the people,” Abdullah said.
Abdullah’s declaration sets the stage for an election that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said would be a “huge challenge” to pull off without repeating the widespread fraud that marred the first-round balloting. The world body has set aside more than US$20 million to support the poll, Siddique said.
Finding replacements for election workers implicated in fraud will be difficult. The government had to scramble this summer to recruit enough election officials and poll workers, especially at voting stations for women. It’s unclear if they would be able to fill open posts with better-qualified people.
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