Election fever grips Afghanistan as candidates hold maiden debates

Independent EC has formally allowed presidential campaigning for two months.

ISLAMABAD:

After decades of a war in Afghanistan that saw national institutions destroyed, Afghans are now making history by gearing up – despite severe security challenges – for the April 5 presidential and provincial councils’ elections.

Five leading presidential candidates of the total eleven appeared on TV channels this week for a live debate for the first time in Afghan history.

Front-runners Abdullah Abdullah, Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, Zalmai Rassoul, Abdul Rahim Wardak and Abdul Qayyum Karzai appeared on mainstream TV channels to disclose their policies on key issues, including the controversial security pact with the US that seeks American military presence post 2014.



The debate was held on Tuesday, two days after Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission formally allowed a two-month political campaign. More debates are planned over the coming weeks which are being viewed as the best way for candidates to garner public support as the volatile security situation curtails their travel across the country.

The presidential hopefuls still have around 50 days for campaigning. The Afghan election authorities will also allow the provincial councils’ candidates to launch a one-month political campaign later this month. That is bound to take the election fever up several notches.

Afghans, who will be taking part in the first-ever democratic transition in April, have hailed the new tradition of televised debates.

“The debate has led to an intellectual revolution in Afghanistan, helping people know with what body language, purpose, programme and plan a candidate is entering the election contest,” said Afghan political analyst Zia Zia while speaking on local channel Tolo.

Former Afghan Prime Minister and warlord Gulbaddin Hekmatyar’s change of mind, asking supporters to take part in the elections, has also had a positive impact on the democratic process.



Weeks after the Hizb-e-Islami leader sent a letter to followers asking them to take part in the provincial councils’ elections, Hekmatyar told The Express Tribune in a recent interview that he would soon announce support for a presidential candidate.

Hekmatyar’s Hizb-e-Islami faction is the second most powerful resistance group after the Taliban. His announcement has evoked interest among the international community including the United Nations. A source in the Islamabad office of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan says they are encouraged by the announcement as it could help increase voter turnout and ensure a relatively smooth election process.

As democracy takes roots in Afghanistan, politics is playing a key role in helping end past hostilities. Some groups that had been involved in the civil war on opposite sides are now allies and campaigning from one platform.

Leading presidential candidate Abdullah, also a leader of the Jamiat-e-Islami of late Burhanuddin Rabbani, is allied with Karim Khalili of the Shia party Hizb-e-Wahdat and Mohammad Khan, a leader of a breakaway faction of Hizb-e-Islami.

Security concerns

As security remains one of the most serious challenges to the elections, Kabul seeks Islamabad’s support for helping ensure a peaceful election.

Official and diplomatic sources say Pakistan’s interior secretary is scheduled to travel to Kabul in a couple of days to discuss bilateral security matters with Afghan officials. He will also finalise the agenda for an upcoming meeting of the two interior ministers in Islamabad.

In October last year, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif affirmed support to the Afghan government for securing the upcoming elections at a trilateral summit in London. During a visit to Kabul in late November, Sharif reiterated his support for peaceful elections. The interior ministers of the two countries are going to have a follow up discussion on the issue, an Afghan official told The Express Tribune.

The biggest impediment to peace, however, is the Taliban. A senior Taliban leader says they cannot trust Karzai as he has “never honoured his previous commitments” with them.

The Taliban leader, who had been part of face-to-face negotiations with Karzai in Kandahar after the US invasion, said the Afghan president had not kept his promise that the invading forces will not target Taliban leaders who live in peace. The leader, a former minister, said they thus do not trust Karzai. This is going to make the peace process all the more difficult as foreign forces leave Afghanistan by the year’s end.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 8^th, 2014.