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| IEC Chief Election Coordinator - Zia Al Haq Amerkhel |
What was initially perceived as a remarkable achievement of democracy, the Afghan
elections have since been on a downward spiral threatening the stability of Afghanistan.
Following the elections on 5th April, Dr Abdullah secured 45% of the
votes and Dr Ashraf Ghani gaining 31%. Having failed to secure an overall
majority of 51%, a runoff was decided. The runoff was held on 14th June
2014 and was marred by complaints. On Election Day more than 2000 complaints
were recorded by the Independent Elections Complaints Commission (IECC).
Preliminary reports showed that Ghani was leading by 1.4 million votes. According
to his supporters this was expected, asserting that in the first round the
candidacy of other Pashtuns figures had divided Ghani’s vote. As early reports
of Ghani’s victory quickly spread across the country, Abdullah convened a press
conference, in which chief coordinator of the Afghan electoral process Zia
Al-Haq Amerkhel was accused of fraud in favour of Ghani, thus casting doubt on
the entirety of the election process. Unless the current government took
action, Abdullah threatened to contest the results published by the Independent
Elections Commission (IEC).
Meanwhile, protests erupted throughout Kabul and the Northern provinces
under the red banner of “Movement against Fraud”. Abdullah called on supporters to stage
peaceful rallies. Protestors held signs condemning the IEC and many camped
outside Parliament with some members of Parliament even joining in. Addressing
the protestors, former Director of Intelligence Amarullah Saleh declared “we
must remain peaceful in our path to justice if we want to maintain our
integrity”.
Questions were raised as to how Abdullah was able to obtain such
confidential information before the release of any results. It is widely known
that Abdullah has little confidence in the IEC and his call for peaceful
protests would have been validated if it was done so after the election results
were announced. Ghani’s supporters further claim that Abdullah’s position is
untenable as he would declare results in his favour not to be fraudulent, while
he would automatically invalidate any result favouring Ashraf Ghani.
Ghani
supporters emphasis that Abdullah plays the role of a bad loser because if the
vote is in his favour there is no discrepancy involved but if the vote is
against him he has a tendency to whine and accuse others of fraud. On June 20th,
the UN prevented the IEC from broadcasting the election results for fear of
igniting further unrest in the country given the current political climate in
the country.
Abdullah’s team also released audio tapes which purportedly include
recordings of Amerkhel asking several IEC officials in different provinces to
"take sheep to the mountains, stuff them and bring them back."
Amerkhel is also accused of ordering other IEC officials in the Faryab province
to replace Tajik and Hazara elections staff with Pashtuns, Uzbeks and Ismailis,
tribes traditionally more supportive of Ghani’s candidacy. With more and more
evidence mounting against him, Amerkhel was stopped by Kabul police on Election
Day transporting dozens of boxes filled with ballot papers to an unknown
location without police escort.
Amerkhel resigned as chief election coordinator despite denying that the
voice heard on the audio tapes was his. He declared “I resigned for the sake of national unity and to bring
confidence back to the Election Commission. I take pride in resigning at this
critical moment of history”. Individuals from Amerkhel’s inner circle have
confirmed that the voice on the recordings was indeed that of Amerkhel, casting
even more doubt and suspicion.
In such fast-paced and hectic developments, it is surprising to see
President Karzai has remained overall very passive and has failed to comment on
the current situation. President Karzai’s silence looks like an attempt to
distance himself from the growing scandal and as a way of postponing the
handing over of power. Karzai has been subject to such accusations in the past.
Many of Ghani’s Pashtun supporters have hinted at a possible Tajik conspiracy
to disturb the course of the elections.
The Afghan people’s faith in the electoral system seems to have been
shaken, the reputation of the Election Commission tarnished and the future of
the country in tatters. After 13 years of trying to install democracy,
Afghanistan continues to remain deeply divided on ethnic lines. Despite failing
to defeat the Taliban, the US will start to withdraw from Afghanistan leaving
9,800 troops after 2014, that number will halve in 2015 and by 2016 only a
vestigial force will remain to protect the embassy. With the heavy cost of
human lives, a mediocre election and allegations of corruption, all hopes for
democracy, meritocracy and national unity seems lost.
