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Distrust, fear stalk Afghan election
Associated Press - August 24, 2010
Heidi Vogt, Kabul, Afghanistan – A shopkeeper in Kandahar city says what others are thinking: Casting a ballot in next month's Afghan parliamentary election is not worth the risk.
"I'm not going to vote. I can't risk my life for nothing," says 31-year-old Hekmatullah as he calls out prices for lipstick and nail polish to women shuffling through the store in burqas.
After a fraud-ridden presidential election last year that threatened to undermine President Hamid Karzai's legitimacy and international support, the Sept. 18 parliamentary ballot is being watched closely as a test of whether the Afghan government is serious about reform.
A second flawed ballot would devastate Karzai's reputation abroad and threaten US congressional support for the government at a decisive phase in the nearly nine-year war.
The Afghan constitution required a parliamentary election by May 22, but the balloting was postponed by four months due to security concerns and lack of funds from international donors, which were withheld until Karzai replaced top election officials who ran the presidential vote.
With fighting escalating in much of the country and bitter memories of the presidential vote fraud, many Afghans wonder what's the point.
"We don't know if we will be alive tomorrow and you are talking about the election?" said Abdul Jabbar Aghnozada, a farmer in Arghandab district just north of Kandahar where fighting has been heavy.
"I don't know why they are bothering to hold an election when the government can't do anything for our safety."
In eastern Paktia province and southern Kandahar province, candidates decided not to campaign at all because it was too dangerous, according to the Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan, the main Afghan observer body.
"There is a perception in some provinces that the winners are already decided by local officials," said Nader Nadery, head of the foundation.
Even in the relatively safe capital of Kabul, many say they do not see any reason to vote.
"There's too much corruption," said Mabubullah Ayubi, who runs a restaurant. "All the people with posters up – they are warlords."
He argued that the Parliament had not done much for the country over the past five years, so he saw no reason to go vote when there could be attacks on polling centers.
Abdullah Jan, who works at a transportation business in the capital of Helmand, said he was worried about safety but he would vote anyway. He hopes the lessons of 2009 have been learned.
"I don't think it will be safe, but I think it will be a fair election," he said.
The presidential vote last summer brought with it a spike in violence, particularly in the south. Poll workers and voters were attacked, and Taliban insurgents fired rockets into Kandahar.
Electoral officials plan to open 5,897 voting sites for the parliamentary election, having discarded more than 900 proposed venues because army and police could not guarantee security.
Last year 6,167 voting centers nominally operated.
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