NEWS JUNKIE POST
Aug 22, 2009 at 10:48 amAfghan Elections:”Fair But Not Free” Says EU Top Observer
The statement, which seems to be in essence a contradiction, came today from Philippe Morillon, the EU’s chief election observer. Morillon made the following statement in Kabul today, and it is already fueling the debate on how legitimate the elections result will be perceived in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
Morillon stated: “What we have observed was considered by our observers, with their methodology, to be good and fair. But free was not the case in some parts of the country due to the terror installed. Despite these significant deterrents, Afghan citizens came out to cast their ballots. That the elections took place at all is a notable achievement.”
However, some other observers such as Nader Nadery, an Afghan with the Free & Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan, view the monitoring from the EU as insubstantial and were very surprised by Morillon’s statement. Some independent observers said that in a lot of areas the international monitoring was not visible at all.
The EU monitoring mission admitted that it only had managed to visit 6 polling stations in the South.
Nader Nadery also warned of voting irregularities. “In some places, we did see that the independent electoral staff, at the local level, was not keeping to a good level of impartiality. There were, as one example, issues of underage voting.”
Furthermore,and to add to the general confusion of the elections aftermath, both front runners Hamid Karzai & Abdullah Abdullah are now claiming victory. Both candidates were asked by the election commission to refrain from making such statements. The final results could be announced as early as next week or as late as September 3RD.
The eventuality of a runoff between Hamid Karzai & Abdullah Abdullah could make the situation in Afghanistan even more unstable than it is now.
Ahmed Rashid, a leading expert on Afghanistan, was interviewed 5 days ago by the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). When asked if Karzai could be defeated in a runoff, Rashid responded: “If there is a runoff, you will have this critical 6 to 8 weeks in which there will be accusations, charges, counter charges, a vacuum of leadership. It will be a very tricky political situation. Anything could happen during that period. There could be political assassinations, and the Taliban will set up their campaign. Internally, there could be a constitutional deadlock. There could be all sort of things with a runoff which would really destabilize the situation.”
To read Ahmed Rashid’s complete interview by the CFR, click here.
