Afghan Election Chief Resigns

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 5^th 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 14^th 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 20^th, 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.