Afghanistan’s presidential election represents the first transfer of democratic power for the country, but has not gone smoothly thus far. The candidates are not trusting of the process, both suspecting fraud from their opponents. The fraud in this election was not so evident that results were announced prior to the voting beginning. The concerns of voting fraud revolve more around invalid ballots, this stemming partly from the ballots being received exceeding the number of voters.
Taliban Lobbyist in Afghanistan may be more apt to sway the results with violence rather than money. President Hamid Karzai has agreed to step down when his term ends. President Karzai has not had a great relationship with the United States, a relationship that worsened in Feb. 2014 when he freed 65 Taliban militants from prison while indicating it was no concern of the US who he releases. With both lead candidates being anti-Taliban, it’s a given why they would want to disrupt the election.
Government officials who have sacrificed ethics to rig the election are playing a bigger part in jeopardizing Afghanistan’s future than the Taliban itself. Abdullah Abdullah claimed Ashraf Ghani’s aides took part in stuffing the ballot boxes. Mr. Abdullah came to this conclusion after hearing a recording of what was determined to be an election official saying, “bring the sheep fat and not empty.” (Ahmed, 2014) According to the Abdullah campaign, the phrase is code for stuffing ballot boxes.
The votes are counted and the people have spoken, so who do we choose appears to be the message when elections are rigged by those in government. When the Abdullah campaign first learned they were losing, they threatened to set up a parallel government. To avoid a civil war, the two opponents have come to an agreement to allow a vote recount monitored by international authorities. An arrangement organized by Secretary of State, John Kerry, allows for the losing candidate to also hold a position of power once the votes have been recounted. It should be interesting to see how that arrangement goes once the ballots have been recounted.
Electoral fraud can manipulate world events. Individuals are not the issue when it comes to electoral fraud, as the issue is most often caused by lobby members of various groups. Lobbyists who control the vote are likely to have their agenda recognized once their candidate is in power. In the states there were some controversial elections that included the winning candidate George Bush. Imagine for a second if there had been someone else in office and how the outcome of events would have varied.
Works Cited
Ahmed, A. (2014, 06 22). Candidate Says Recordings Show Afghan Election was rigged. Retrieved 07 16, 2014, from New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/23/world/asia/abdullah-abdullah-says-recordings-show-afghan-election-was-rigged.html
Taliban Lobbyist in Afghanistan may be more apt to sway the results with violence rather than money. President Hamid Karzai has agreed to step down when his term ends. President Karzai has not had a great relationship with the United States, a relationship that worsened in Feb. 2014 when he freed 65 Taliban militants from prison while indicating it was no concern of the US who he releases. With both lead candidates being anti-Taliban, it’s a given why they would want to disrupt the election.
Government officials who have sacrificed ethics to rig the election are playing a bigger part in jeopardizing Afghanistan’s future than the Taliban itself. Abdullah Abdullah claimed Ashraf Ghani’s aides took part in stuffing the ballot boxes. Mr. Abdullah came to this conclusion after hearing a recording of what was determined to be an election official saying, “bring the sheep fat and not empty.” (Ahmed, 2014) According to the Abdullah campaign, the phrase is code for stuffing ballot boxes.
The votes are counted and the people have spoken, so who do we choose appears to be the message when elections are rigged by those in government. When the Abdullah campaign first learned they were losing, they threatened to set up a parallel government. To avoid a civil war, the two opponents have come to an agreement to allow a vote recount monitored by international authorities. An arrangement organized by Secretary of State, John Kerry, allows for the losing candidate to also hold a position of power once the votes have been recounted. It should be interesting to see how that arrangement goes once the ballots have been recounted.
Electoral fraud can manipulate world events. Individuals are not the issue when it comes to electoral fraud, as the issue is most often caused by lobby members of various groups. Lobbyists who control the vote are likely to have their agenda recognized once their candidate is in power. In the states there were some controversial elections that included the winning candidate George Bush. Imagine for a second if there had been someone else in office and how the outcome of events would have varied.
Works Cited
Ahmed, A. (2014, 06 22). Candidate Says Recordings Show Afghan Election was rigged. Retrieved 07 16, 2014, from New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/23/world/asia/abdullah-abdullah-says-recordings-show-afghan-election-was-rigged.html
