Chaos as boycott hits Afghan vote

[DoYouEverWonder]

Saturday, 9 October

Afghanistan's first democratic presidential election has been thrown into confusion with most of the 18 candidates boycotting it.

The move follows allegations of fraud over the use of indelible ink to prevent people voting more than once.

The boycott was agreed by 15 candidates opposed to the favourite, the interim President Hamid Karzai, reports say.

<snip>

"Today's election is not a legitimate election," presidential candidate Abdul Satar Sirat said after hosting a meeting in which it is reported that 15 candidates signed up to the boycott.

"It should be stopped and we don't recognise the results."

The allegations of voter fraud arose after complaints that the indelible ink used to mark voters' fingers can be washed off.



http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3727324.stm

[truthisfreedom]

1. leave it to bush.

he managed to schmuck up another "exercise in Democracy."

this just isn't bush's... umm... lifetime.

daddy should have known to keep his defective son out of politics.

[w13rd0]

2. Welcome to Florida...

...please choose: Karzai or Karzai, or perhaps you'd like to support Karzai...

[nadinbrzezinski]

3. This is not gong to be good for bush

assuming our heroic media carries this

[Disturbed]

4. Demokrazy..

in action. If Karazi doesn't win I will be stunned.

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. Of course Kamerade, Karzai is our man in Kabul

that said the chaos is not good, one bit

[saigon68]

9. "The Mayor of Kabul" looks to expand influence

As a member of the oil cartel this Puppet of the Bush Criminals and the NeoCons is always looking for a better deal.

Protected by 500 BlackWater USA MERCENARIES, he cuts a fine figure running briskly from his Bunker to his Helicopter in his Night-Shirt.

[neuvocat]

29. Even if it doesn't:

Bush was hoping to turn focus away from Iraq by using this as a postive example of what he's done over there. He was harping on about freedom being a deterrent and so on and he needed a problem-free election over there. He doesn't have it now after something like this and he can't draw attention to it.

[LynnTheDem]

5. heh.

This was always a pure and utter bullshite "election" anyways.

[whistle]

7. Isn't that what they do at church dances with paid admission so...

...patrons can move freely about church property? If skin is oily or finger nails have lacquer, nail polish or oil on them, the marker comes right off by rubbing the nail.

[librechik]

8. another blow to the KKKampaign!

Democracy 'n' Freedom Blossom in Iraq! NOT!

[w4rma]

10. If folks think the voting process is rigged, then they won't use it.

They'll use force, instead. Because those are the only two ways that folks can pick who gets the power and how much power they get.

And that's too bad, since President Hamid Karzai seems, to me, to be a pretty decent guy. But, as usual, BushCo screws it up, intentionally or unintentionally.

[starroute]

22. Decent but unqualified

The impression I have from what I've read about him is that he's someone who would make a perfectly fine college professor but has absolutely no business running a country.

[The Zanti Regent]

11. but but but but President Jerk Off said Democracy is FLOWERING there...

No, President Jerk Off, that's the OPIUM POPPIES growing, you know, the ones YOU and YOU PAL OLLIE NORTH are gonna make a lot of money on!

I swear W and Pickles are so fucking evil, they make Tony and Carmela Soprano look like Ozzie and Harriet!

[fishnfla]

12. He mentioned this in his closing remarks last night!

And the US press is where?

[The Zanti Regent]

13. One hint...

...SLURP...

[HEIL PRESIDENT GOD]

14. CNN.com has it now

This one's too big to ignore.

[biftonnorton]

15. Do People Know All Candidates' Stands?

How could the people outside of the capital know of all the candidates? Would the people in remote regions even know who they're voting for?

[DoYouEverWonder]

16. Can the people in remote regions even read?

They are saying almost half the women are voting, but very few women in Afghanistan were even allowed to go to school.

This whole thing is such a sham. Just because Bush put on a fake election, doesn't mean you have a democracy.

[msmcghee]

17. An Afghan woman on NPR yesterday said . .

. . that women must be obedient to their husbands and must vote the way their husbands tell them to.

Life is so simple (and short) when patriarchy rules.

[HEIL PRESIDENT GOD]

18. On the other hand...

Do their menfolk have the option of voting the Taliban back in, which I'm sure a lot of them would prefer to Karzai?

[msmcghee]

19. That's a good question . .

I'm no expert but I suspect the men will vote according to how their local tribal leaders tell them to vote. It will be a test of loyalty - as everything is in a tribal warrior culture.

Whether Karzai can demand their loyalty depends on his ability to dominate them militarily and politically. I don't think he wields much political power outside of Kabul. So it would depend on his ability to wield the military power that we are putting at his disposal. I guess he also has some financial power thanks to our taxes that are certainly being used to bribe the war lords to bring in votes from the provinces.

In the West, the path to success lies in choosing a good occupation and then getting a good education in that field.

In the "stans" and most of the Mideast, for all but the very few who manage to leave to get an education, success is falling in behind a local warrior/political strongman who will be able to gain power for himself in the hierarchy. You then advance within by showing your loyalty - that you're ready to die for that person - and you ride that person's status as it increases.

Pick the right guy and show your loyalty over many years and you too can be rich and powerful by the time you die. Maybe rich enough to send your sons abroad to get an education.

[HEIL PRESIDENT GOD]

20. I got lost in the middle

You started out talking about Afghanistan... and ended up talking about Karl Rove!

"success is falling in behind a local warrior/political strongman who will be able to gain power for himself in the hierarchy. You then advance within by showing your loyalty - that you're ready to die for that person - and you ride that person's status as it increases. Pick the right guy and do the right thing and you too can be rich and powerful by the time you die."

[msmcghee]

21. Yes, patriarchy can be expressed in many creative ways. n/t

[realFedUp]

23. but what about the donkeys with the ballots?

going into those mountain areas....
do those votes count?

geez, is this ridiculous or what.
indelible ink...come on...Rummy's
already stuffed the ballot box
with "our man in Kabul"

[durutti]

24. Also, Karzai's party has threatened to burn down the houses of anyone...

who doesn't vote for him.

[F.Gordon]

25. Bunch more....from variety of sources......

I.did.not.know that there were fucking Afghan refugees, 740,000 in Pakistan and 150,000 in Iran voting. WTF? The "real" story seems to be very controlled right now but you can get a sense of things by browsing these links. Also note the US warning for journalists...
=============================================================
KABUL, Afghanistan -- The United Nations, which is helping to oversee the Afghan election, is in crisis talks with the country's presidential candidates to save the historic voting day, the country's first direct democratic election.

http://www.cnn.com/2004/WORLD/asiapcf/10/09/afghanistan.elections/index.html

KABUL - Afghanistan’s historic presidential election closed on Saturday without any of the feared large-scale violence but the vote was thrown into turmoil instead by a boycott called by most of the candidates.

All 15 of President Hamid Karzai’s rivals said they were withdrawing from the election because systems to prevent illegal multiple voting had gone awry. The move effectively left Karzai as the only candidate in the fray.

http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticle.asp?xfile=data/subcontinent/2004/October/subcontinent_October272.xml§ion=subcontinent
(edit: can't seem to get this link to work in this post..tried twice)

TWENTY-FIVE suspected Taliban militants were killed in an air bombardment by US-led coalition forces in south Afghanistan shortly ahead of landmark elections, an official said today.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,11029877%255E401,00.html

Early turnout appeared heavy among the 740,000 Afghan refugees in Pakistan who have registered to vote in Afghanistan's first democratic elections after a quarter century of conflict. Interim leader Hamid Karzai is widely expected to win.

http://www.hindustantimes.com/news/181_1049044,00050002.htm

KABUL, Afghanistan – U.S. officials in Afghanistan say they've received a detailed and ''credible threat'' of a plot to kidnap a U.S. journalist.

http://www.news8austin.com/content/headlines/?ArID=121616&SecID=2

KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) -- A truck caught fire near a northern polling station, causing no casualties but some confusion in a nation on edge as it holds its first-ever presidential election amid a threat of Taliban violence.

A Western official said on condition of anonymity that a bomb had gone off at a polling station in the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif, but peacekeeping officials and the governor in control of the town said no such bombing had occurred.

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AFGHAN_ELECTION_BLAST?SITE=CASTO&SECTION=US

About 10.5 million registration cards were handed out ahead of the election, a staggering number that U.N. and Afghan officials say was inflated by widespread double registration.

Human rights groups say some people obtained four or five voter cards, thinking they would be able to use them to receive humanitarian aid. Vote organizers had argued that the indelible ink would prevent people from voting twice.

Massooda Jalal, the only female candidate, said she joined the boycott petition after getting complaints from her constituents. "The ink that is being used can be rubbed off in a minute. Voters can vote 10 times!" she said.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2001/09/11/world/main310701.shtml

[DoYouEverWonder]

26. Wow, thanks for putting that together

Yep, W will boast about Afghanistan having an election and gee whiz, his hand picked puppet just happened to 'win'. I bet W will use some of the same techniques to assure his own win on Nov. 2nd.

[F.Gordon]

27. No prob....

And does THIS photo remind anyone of another "democratic election"?

[struggle4progress]

28. Afghan election turns sour; Karzai challengers claim fraud, boycott vote

Paul Haven
Canadian Press
Saturday, October 09, 2004

KABUL (AP) - Afghanistan's historic presidential election turned sour Saturday when all 15 candidates opposing U.S.-backed interim President Hamid Karzai withdrew in the middle of voting, accusing the government and the United Nations of fraud and incompetence.

Feared mass attacks by insurgents failed to materialize. But opposition candidates claimed the ink used to mark people's thumbs to prevent multiple voting rubbed off too easily, allowing for mass deception. In the end, faulty ink - not Taliban bombs and bullets - threatened three years of painstaking progress toward democracy.

Electoral officials rejected opposition demands that voting be stopped at midday, saying it would rob millions of people of their first chance to directly decide their leader. The joint UN-Afghan panel overseeing the election said it would rule later on the vote's legitimacy. <snip>

"Who is more important, these 15 candidates, or the millions of people who turned out today to vote?" Karzai said. "Both myself and all these 15 candidates should respect our people - because in the dust and snow and rain, they waited for hours and hours to vote." <snip>

http://www.canada.com/national/nationalpost/news/story.html?id=dbea6f86-0bec-4b97-b614-2b14c67bb284

[daleo]

30. Karzai will be elected mayor of Kabul

Maybe. But the process, not surprisingly, is a sham.