With the declaration of a much awaited final result by the Independent Election Commission the drama came to an end. An announcement in a press conference by the sitting President confirmed the results and alarmed the nation to be ready for a second round since the first round was robbed off by what the UN backed Electoral Complaints Commission held as ‘clear and convincing evidence of (massive) fraud’. The poor nation that is already only managing to keep its blood running with the huge donations from friendly cum interested countries in the international community will have to undergo the extravagant expenses of a second round which will again present them with a very limited choice of two very notorious corrupt candidates who were found deeply involved in ballot stuffing and massive fraud in the first round to bring themselves to the top slot.
Now, the situation is quite interesting. The sitting President Karzai loses everything if he stands second in the second round of elections. His popularity has suffered a lot as well but to his good luck is the weather condition. He draws most of his votes from the southern Pashtoon dominated areas where the weather still isn’t as cold as in the Northern provinces where from his only opponent Dr. Abdullah Abdullah draws his support from the Persian speaking Afghans. For Abdullah Abdullah a dream has come true. He is going to use his popularity card amongst his supporters. He has to cash his claims of massive fraud in the first round of the elections held on August 20 this year involving Karzai which proved right. Further, he has got a chance to bring the US, that’s lost interest in Karzai, to his side. (Remember it was John Kerry who convinced Karzai to bow down before the Announcements made by IEC and ECC not Richard Holbrooke, US special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan , who reportedly had a very tense meeting with Karzai a day before August 20 elections)
The second round to some is a very important step in strengthening democracy in Afghanistan. It most probably is a bold step taken in a very challenging time to cultivate the seed of democracy in a young democratic state. While, to some it’s just the beginning of a big deal US is after. After the announcement there arose two roads a head. The first lead to the second round of elections which has been adopted now and the elections have been set for November 7. The second lead to the formulation of a coalition government by striking a deal between the two top contenders. Power sharing would have been a difficult practice for a country that has never had such a rule before. Further, news in the air for a very long time now has been that a non-democratic post called the Chief-Executive has to be created and filled by a tough administrator to relieve the President of his executive authorities and make sure plans go smoothly as they are designed in the Pentagon and /or White House plus the western capitals. Neither Karzai nor Abdullah Abdullah can prove a tough administrator and an ever loyal servant of the US due to their Afghan birth and background. This new post could be best filled by either Zalmay Khalilzad or a person of the sort.
This second round of elections is feared to be much more challenging than the first round. Where less number of voters is expected to turn out, security and weather conditions are also the prevailing tough challenges for smooth elections. Most parts of the country in the north faces cold winter a head where most Northern provinces are already in cold snowy winter by now, the Southern provinces face security problems to a large extent. Although these challenges are apparently risky enough to avoid a second round of elections, yet the bold step taken to go to the second round to get an ultimate winner is a step deserving appreciations and praises.