Huge numbers of Afghans turn out to vote by SBS World News / BBC News / UN News 10:12am 11th Oct, 2004   11.10.2004. (SBS World News)    International election observers have endorsed Afghanistan's landmark presidential ballot and rejected opposition calls for a new vote on the grounds of fraud.    A swathe of rival candidates had claimed voting irregularities marred the election, however the polls have been hailed around the world for the strong turnout and lack of violence.    "A fairly democratic environment has generally been observed in the overall majority of the polling centres," declared the local Free and Fair Elections Foundation of Afghanistan.    The Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, which sent advisers to help with monitoring the polling, said Saturday's demand by 14 opposition candidates to nullify the election was "unjustified".    One of the main charges was that the special ink which was supposed to stain voters' fingers to prevent them voting twice could be washed off. Interim President Hamid Karzai Sunday angrily rejected a suggestion that problems with the election meant that he would be reduced to "horse-trading" with his opponents.    "The time for horse trading is over in Afghanistan. The people of Afghanistan came in millions to put an end to that," he said.    Most opposition candidates, including powerful regional leaders and some who have large private militias, have condemned Saturday's election as fraudulent and illegitimate. However, several candidates later indicated they would drop calls for a vote boycott.    A United Nations spokesman said Afghanistan's electoral management body is working on a mechanism to investigate complaints about the conduct of the vote.    Huge numbers of Afghans turned out to vote on the weekend, taking part in the country’s first experience in democracy, despite fears of attacks by Taliban militants, which did not eventuate.    The biggest threat to the polls' ultimate success is now the opposition's rejection of the vote, and Western diplomats were Sunday believed to be holding meetings with Karzai's main opponent, Yunus Qanooni.    9 October, 2004    "Afghan officials hail Kandahar poll", by Paul Anderson. (BBC correspondent in Kandahar).    Afghan officials are running out of superlatives to describe the election in Kandahar. And the ones they use sound nothing like the superlatives normally associated with the town in the heartland of the Taleban. "It was like a festival," said the provincial governor, Engineer Yusef Pashtoon. Two days ago he told me the most likely time for attack by the Taleban was in the days before the vote, because it would scare voters back into their homes. But no attacks - at least against major population centres - ever materialised.    Instead, the images from this dusty and parched town, will be of hundreds of men and women patiently waiting in queues to vote, bracing themselves against the first snap of the coming winter. "This moment is the beginning of a new history in Afghanistan, a new chapter," said Palwar, an anthropologist who goes by one name only. "A few years ago every group was coming to power by killing others, by bloodshed. Now after this election there will be a legal transfer of power."    Women's vote    As he spoke, hundreds of women were pouring into the separate ladies' voting section opposite. Inside was an ocean of pale blue burqas, the front of them uncovered despite the presence of a male cameraman, reporter, translator and producer. This too, it became evident, was their day and they wanted everyone to see and hear it.    "We are all so delighted to be here," said Amina. "We're just so happy to be voting and to be choosing the president who will lead Afghanistan in the future." On paper, the Kandahar women's vote won't make much difference to the national count. Those who registered are a fraction of the national average. They number at best 200,000 and many will have been scared by Taleban intimidation.    However, the resolve of those who did vote was fortified by the post cards circulating in the polling centres - depicting images of the atrocities committed by the Taleban when it was in power: a 13-year-old Taleban recruit parading the severed hands of thieves, the destruction of the ancient statues of Bamiyan, the public beating of women. The subliminal message: "Lest we forget..."    The ink problems experienced around the country were a feature of voting in Kandahar. I watched as a group of three men washed off the thumb markings in full views of us - we filmed them - 20 metres from the ballot boxes where they'd just dropped their papers. Then they rejoined the queue of voters. A flaw, agreed Mary Agnes, one of the few international observers watching procedures. But not so grave, she said, as to devalue the big picture. The big picture is that in Kandahar, of all places in Afghanistan, people truly relished a right they've never enjoyed before - to exercise their own choice.    6 October 2004    Winner of Afghan presidential poll can hold claim to popular will, UN envoy says. (UN News)    The winner of this Saturday’s presidential election in Afghanistan – the first in its history – can claim to genuinely represent the nation, despite the limitations surrounding the poll process, the senior United Nations envoy to the country said today.    Jean Arnault, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan, told reporters at a briefing in the capital Kabul that the imminent election, which features 18 candidates, “is a remarkable situation” given that the notorious Taliban regime only collapsed in late 2001. He said it shows “unmistakably a trend, a process embraced by the population at-large – and candidates – that quickens the pace of the transition away from the rule of the gun.”    More than 10 million people, including at least four million women, have registered to vote on Saturday. At least 900,000 refugees still living in neighbouring Iran and Pakistan are also entitled to cast their ballot.    Mr. Arnault, who is head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), acknowledged there have been shortcomings in the electoral process, as well as widespread unfamiliarity with democratic institutions and ongoing violence or threats of violence from extremist groups. But, he added, “We deem the degree of freedom and fairness adequate to allow the will of the Afghan people as a whole to translate at the polls, and the next president of Afghanistan to claim to represent the nation.”    Mr. Arnault cited many factors, including the high rates of voter registration, especially from women; an election campaign that has covered the whole country and featured a more open public debate; the emergence of a pluralistic system offering voters an array of options; and the disarmament of numerous ex-fighters.    “And last, but certainly not least, the continued determination of the overwhelming majority of Afghans to brush aside difficulties and go to the polls.” Mr. Arnault urged every candidate to respect the integrity of the polling and the election result and to reject all forms of violence and undue influence.
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