S. Mudassir Ali Shah
KABUL, September 17 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Around 12.5 million registered Afghan voters are poised go to parliamentary polls tomorrow (Sunday) to elect a 249-member Wolesi Jirga (lower house of parliament) and 34 provincial councils – a significant event marking the culmination of the Bonn Agreement.
The first post-Taliban elections – coming amid widespread security fears – have also triggered a wave of optimism about the future of a fractured post-conflict country, facing a whole host of complex challenges like widespread poverty, booming drug commerce and sharp ethnic divisions.
Even on the eve of the landmark legislative elections, the first in more than three decades, a number of questions hang over the make-up of the national assembly and the provincial councils and their precise functions and powers remain unanswered.
Although a law creating the new parliament has already been signed by President Hamid Karzai, some of the 5,772 candidates are still unclear about legislative powers of the Wolesi Jirga and provincial councils – a new concept in Afghanistan.
Up for grabs are 249 Wolesi Jirga seats and 420 provincial council berths. One redeeming feature of the polls is 68 seats in the Wolesi Jirga, which will have a five-year term, and on-forth of berths on provincial councils have been reserved for women. The nomadic Kuchis have been allocated 10 seats in the lower house of parliament.
Among the political heavyweights in the electoral battle are Abdul Rab Rasul Sayyaf, Yunus Qanuni, Prof. Burhanuddin Rabbani, Wakil Ahmad Mutawakil, Mullah Khaksar, Mullah Rocketi, Haji Mohammad Mohaqiq, Mustafa Kazmi and Eng. Ahmad Shah Ahmadzai.
Bringing a tad bit of spice to the electoral fray are educated women contestants such as Safia Siddiqui, Shukriya Barakzai, Malalai Shinwari, Surraya Parlika, Balqis Makez, Shinkai Karokhel and Maghfirat Samimi. A number of other females too look well poised for making it to the parliament.
Reserved for Hindus and Sikhs together is a solitary Wolesi Jirga seat being eyed by a Sikh Dalip Singh from Ghazni. “Many of us didn’t file nomination papers, because no one is willing to grant Hindus and Sikhs their due rights. As a result of continued indifference shown to the two minorities, they are disillusioned with Afghanistan’s political and governmental affairs,” says an urbane Hindu woman Anar Kali.
Hamayun Jarir, Ramzan Bashar Dost, Mustafa Kazmi, Kazi Amin Waqaad, Mirwais Yasini, Ustad Akbari, Syed Mohammad Ali Javed, Alami Balkhi, Bashir Qanit, Asadullah Walwalji and Dr. Fazl Mohammad Ibrahimi are seen as potential winners – though for different reasons.
A Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB) break-up puts Kabul on the top with 33 Wolesi Jirga seats; Nuristan, Panjsher and Nimroz are at rock-bottom of the list with two seats each. Seat distribution has been done on the basis of population estimates, which are far from accurate.
Ballots featuring contender names, symbols, photographs and registration numbers constitute an inordinate demand on the intellect of the voters most of them illiterate and unfamiliar with exercising universal suffrage in an election contested by thousands. Thus the task of conscious voting will be pretty taxing for many of them within the stipulated time.
Dozens of who are generally referred to as “commander candidates” have been barred from the vote under what can at best be described as a flawed vetting procedure, but many warlords have managed to slip through the net. Their clearance provides genuine cause for hand-wringing, with many fearing war criminals could stage a political comeback.
A major worry is that Taliban insurgents may translate their warning to derail the democratic exercise into attacks on polling stations, candidates, voters and security personnel. For their part, the Afghan security establishment, US-led coalition and ISAF forces have assured tight security arrangements have been put in place to stop militants in their tracks.
Violence in the lead-up to the election has left at least seven candidates dead and several including a female aspirant from the remote Nuristan province injured. Also killed and wounded in a spate of pre-poll attacks were political activists and law-enforcement personnel.
With the minimum voting age 18, 12.5 million Afghans will start casting their votes at 6am and the process will come to a close at 4pm. However, there is a likelihood of the voting time being extended. Popular mood in Ghazni, Zabul and Kandahar is indicative of indifference to the much-hyped exercise
Separate ballots will be marked by voters in elections to parliament and provincial councils, having different member numbers – from nine to 29 depending on population. Each council will select a member to sit in a 102-member upper house of parliament called the Masharano Jirga.