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Karzai: Afghanistan May Delay Elections
Afghanistan may have to delay its historic elections because the overwhelming majority of its eligible voters still aren't registered to cast ballots, President Hamid Karzai said Wednesday. Blaming security and logistical problems, he said U.N. registration teams still have huge swaths of the lawless countryside to visit before the vote can be held. Only about 1.5 million of Afghanistan's 10.5 million eligible voters - or less than 15 percent - have registered for the presidential and parliamentary elections, scheduled for June. The United Nations hopes to issue voter identification cards to another 8 million people during a nationwide campaign beginning in May. "If that is done on time by the United Nations, the Afghan government is keen to have elections in June, July or August, depending on preparations," Karzai said after talks with Secretary of State Colin Powell.
| I wouldn't count too heavily on the UN to get the job done... |
Still, Afghan officials acknowledge they face a daunting task in trying to hold a legitimate ballot while thousands of U.S.-led troops continue pursuing militants along the Pakistani border.
| They could always write off Pashtunistan. |
Powell, who visited a girls' school in the capital where he watched women register to vote, said he was impressed by the preparations and promised long-term American support for Afghanistan. "This is an exercise in democracy," he said. Karzai said it still had not been determined whether both votes would be held simultaneously. The parliamentary election is more difficult to organize because of uncertainty over district boundaries, the need to register hundreds of extra candidates and tougher security requirements. Karzai is expected to win a five-year term as president. Washington believes he can prevent the country from relapsing into anarchy and again becoming a base for terrorists.
| I never like the idea of delayed elections. You can always find a reason, if you look hard enough... |
The United Nations recently agreed to speed up its registration drive in troubled provinces, but only after receiving security assurances from the Afghan government and the U.S.-led military coalition. The world body is also pressing for protection a new push to disarm the warlords and factional militias still controlling much of the country in order to reduce the chances that UN workers voters are intimidated. "We have huge challenges, no doubt about it," the head of the Afghan electoral body, Farooq Wardak, said after touring the voter registration center with Powell. But he said registration rates in eight cities where the process has begun showed the "keen interest of the Afghan people that they want ... to be part of the political rehabilitation of their country." "We are not alone in this process. We have the international community behind us," he said. "I can assure you we will take this process to a success."
Posted by: Steve White 2004-03-18 |
