In fact participating in election is not only a matter of choosing the potential leader but it is a true exercise of individual’s political and social rights which itself is a constructive step towards democracy and fulfilling the human rights. Afghanistan’s sociopolitical structure is based on the existence of multi-ethnic groups living in the country. Nonetheless, having a democratic, transparent and accountable election and ensuring the full participation of people specially women in election remains a serious confront at this juncture. The issue of “will we have a transparent and democratic election?” always remains an unanswered inquiry and looks like a dilemma. The three very noticeable points always make afghan nation and other concern people to think of how to respond the aforementioned question. Those three points can be glanced through, as per following:

a)      Taliban gains more power and expands their existence in wider parts of country in general and in southern region in particular which is a serious antagonism towards having an election in a participatory and democratic manner. As of now Taliban has full-fledged control of more than 5 districts in the south where they are obviously flagging their power in said area. Of course their existence even in minor geographical areas can demolish the election process and enable them to avoid the participation of local community at least in those particular boundaries. The current directorate of Karzai with efforts of international community has put several requests to Taliban for joining the current government, but they couldn’t receive any positive respond from Taliban. It shows the political power of said regime and their strong back- up from other countries such as Pakistan and etc…  This election will be a worthwhile opportunity for Taliban to use their maximum power to make the situation insecure in order to smash up the election process and at the same time they will use this opportunity to demonstrate their political power and existence.

b)      On another hand, still the existence of former war commanders and having them in power can be the 2nd serious challenge towards having a transparent and democratic election. Despite the efforts of the Independent human rights commission of Afghanistan for passing and implementation of the laws against the ex- commanders involved in war and violence of human rights, still most of those commanders are part of current government of Afghanistan they are working in higher positions. The existence of them are not only a challenges towards election process but of course a very obvious hostility against the UDHR (Afghanistan has signed it), the constitution of Afghanistan (democratic election is part of it), and of course the common desire and hope of each and every afghan who in anyways wishing and looking forward to have a democratic state, stable government and at least having a true and participatory election which is the only opportunity for people to exercise their political rights at this stage.

c)       And the 3rd issue is women’s participation in election which is not only a problem of now but from the very long back. The issue of women participation is directly connected to the reality of having a traditional and patriarch society in Afghanistan which is not allowing women to exercise their basic sociopolitical rights. Despite the existence of the ministry of women affairs in the country, women’s efforts participating in political scenarios such as being parliamentary members and being assigned in some higher positions, still high range of women’s rights violence in several conditions, very obvious hostility towards women and girl’s education and existence of high range of gender inequity are alarming the situation of afghan women.  The above mentioned points with regard to women situation in Afghanistan are other highlighted issue which strongly questions the legitimacy and transparency of upcoming election in the country. Nevertheless, the situation of women in southern region especially in the boundaries of Taliban is much worse than other areas. In the areas under control of Taliban the accomplishment of election is a question but the participation of women in election always remains an accomplishable dream.

The issues mentioned above are the very obvious concerns but, if we go deeper there are many others which encounter and challenge of having a legitimate and transparent election process and its expected outcome. Sky-scraping range of corruption, dishonesty, unnecessary bureaucracy and imbalance of political power scheme are another concern which upcoming election process may face. Lack of good governance system, lack of skilled and professional human resources, of course insecure situation of the country are other issues that highly challenge the smooth processing and having a legitimate and transparent election in the country.

Besides all problems and challenges confront the election process, there are some windows of anticipation also, which afghan people looking at to, and consider them as positive intimation towards having a stable and enhanced election process. The following are some green lights and are sensible to be thought of with regard to upcoming election.

In this round of election, the limited number of candidates stood for election, for example there is only single considerable candidate introduced by opposition party who will challenges the current president of the country (President Karzai), are some plus points for this election. It shows the reliability and credibility of political parties which in conclusion can be positive steps towards creation of power equilibrium and stability in the country. Familiarity of people in general and local people in particular to election process is another added value which will be very obliging to have an organized and smooth election process at this round. Having the independent election commission with an adequate budget in hand for holding the election, are other positive points which may help the election process to go smoothly and hopefully by a peaceful and participatory comportment!

Written by:

Hameed Nida

May 10th -2009

Kabul Afghanistan