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Afghanistan/South Asia
Voting begins in Afghanistan
2004-10-09
VOTING began in Afghanistan today for the first direct presidential election in the country's history. Some 10.5 million registered voters are eligible to select a president from a total of 18 candidates. The vote is taking place under the threat of violence from anti-US militants and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terror network. Around 100,000 armed security personnel, including 27,000 foreign troops from a US-led coalition and NATO, have been deployed to protect more than 10 million registered voters. US-backed President Hamid Karzai, 46, elected by a council of tribal leaders in June 2002, is widely tipped to win.

Afghanistan was set on course for the elections by the US-led invasion in late 2001, after the former Taliban regime refused to hand over bin Laden, wanted for the September 11, 2001 terror attacks on the US. Remnants of the eye-rolling, face-making fundamentalist Islamic Taliban movement are waging an insurgency, mainly in the south and south-east of the country, in which hundreds of people have been killed this year. Human rights groups have expressed concern that violence and intimidation will make it difficult for the vote to be free and fair. Fewer than 500 international observers will monitor the vote in 5000 polling stations, and most have declared they will not issue a public judgement. Early results could be announced within days, but a final result could take several weeks. If a single candidate fails to win more than 50 per cent of the vote, a run-off election will be called. Former education minister and prominent anti-Taliban fighter Yunus Qanooni, 47, is seen as Mr Karzai's only serious challenger. Among the other challengers are two former communists from the days of Soviet control in the 1980s; a couple of warlords; five with links to anti-Soviet Islamic fighters; one woman, and a French-speaking poet.

Little attention has been paid to the sort of issues that dominate most elections, with polls showing that the overwhelming majority of Afghans simply want peace after 25 years of conflict. But ethnicity, in the absence of any significant political parties, is expected to play a large part in the way people vote. Mr Karzai is a member of the majority Pashtun tribe, which makes up some 40 per cent of the population of 25 million. Mr Qanooni is from the next largest group, the Tajiks, who comprise around 25 per cent. They are followed by Hazaras with 12 per cent and Uzbeks with 10 per cent. The winner will inevitably face accusations led by Jimmuah Carter and a whole host of celebrity loonies of lacking legitimacy and will first have to work hard to build a political majority, likely along ethnic lines.
Posted by:Steve White

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