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| Afghanistan |
| Karzai Firm On Election Interference, Advised Against Qayoum Running |
| 2013-11-17 |
[Tolo News] President Hamid Maybe I'll join the TalibanKarzai ... A former Baltimore restaurateur, now 12th and current President of Afghanistan, displacing the legitimate president Rabbani in December 2004. He was installed as the dominant political figure after the removal of the Taliban regime in late 2001 in a vain attempt to put a Pashtunface on the successor state to the Taliban. After the 2004 presidential election, he was declared president regardless of what the actual vote count was. He won a second, even more dubious, five-year-term after the 2009 presidential election. His grip on reality has been slipping steadily since around 2007, probably from heavy drug use... said on Saturday that any government officials found to be meddling in the election process would be removed from their post. He also admitted to having advised against his brother's candidacy. The President's comments came amidst speculation about the integrity of the pre-election process being compromised, with bias toward certain candidates over others as election officials formulate the final list of Presidential and Provincial Council contenders eligible for the April vote. "We had a meeting with the officials of both Commissions last week, the Independent Election Commission and the Election Complaints Commission," Karzai said. "I explicitly told them that if they encounter a government official, or have authenticated information that they are interfering in the elections, or are using government equipment and facilities to do so, they can ask us by all means to remove them from their post." Although Karzai has urged public officials not to interfere in the elections process before, his comments on Saturday were of a particularly stern tone. Experiences of past elections are in part why so many are anxious about the 2014 vote. During the Presidential election of 2009, there was widespread reports of ballot box stuffing, fraud and other improprieties such as voter intimidation by government officials and security forces. The 2014 Presidential elections will be the first time that Hamid Karzai cannot run, as mandated by the term limit provision of the Afghan Constitution. However, facts are stubborn; statistics are more pliable... many have questioned whether the man who has been in the Presidential Palace since the fall of the Taliban would seek to hand-pick his successor. The fact his older brother, Qayoum Karzai, is a candidate in the election has not helped mollify those concerns. But on Saturday the President admitted that he had not been in favor of his brother's candidacy. In fact, he advised Qayoum against it. "Mr. Qayoum Karzai, my brother who is also a Presidential Candidate, he did what he decided and will participate in the elections," Karzai said. "I advised him that I didn't see it necessary for him to nominate himself, but he has full liberty and as a citizen of Afghanistan, he used the right that the Constitution gives him." Although fears of malfeasance in Afghan elections are nothing new, this year new issues have arisen around the Loya Jirga being convened next week to deliberate over the Kabul-Washington Bilateral Security Agreement (BSA). Some have expressed suspicions that the Jirga could be used to push a delay in the date of the elections, prolonging Karzai's stay in power. Others have suggested the participation of Presidential candidates in the Jirga could provide them an unsanctioned platform for promoting their candidacies. But President Karzai categorically denied any chance of the agenda of the Jirga being changed or the event being used for campaigning. As NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... troops withdraw in the lead up to the end of the coalition's combat mission in December of 2014, the upcoming elections are viewed with a unique significance beyond that of a normal electoral cycle, making their credibility paramount. |
| Posted by:Fred |