Election Tracker

Afghanistan

Abstract: At stake: President

At stake: President

Background

For more than a century, Afghanistan went through a period of political instability. Since 1919, twelve Afghan governments or leaders have been deposed through overthrows, removals or assassinations.

In 1978, the communist People’s Democratic Party (HDZ) took command of Afghanistan’s political scene after a coup. The Soviet-inspired government faced difficult internal conflicts, as well as external pressures. In late 1979, the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan, installing Babrak Karbal as president. The military intervention—which provoked an international outcry and spawned the Islamic Mujahedeen insurgency—ended in 1989.

Despite the fact that a central government was chosen in 1992, civil conflict among rival warlords continued to escalate. In 1996, the Taliban—a spiritual movement headed by Mullah Mohammad Omar—took control of more than 90 per cent of the country. The Taliban established an "Islamic Emirate" and repressed basic freedoms while claiming to follow the teachings of the Koran.

On Sept. 11, 2001, 19 operatives belonging to the al-Qaeda terrorist network hijacked and crashed four airplanes in the United States, killing nearly 3,000 people. The Taliban regime refused to hand over Osama bin Laden, prime suspect in the attacks. In October 2001, U.S. president George W. Bush ordered the invasion of Afghanistan, claiming that there would be "no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbour them."

Pre-Taliban leader Burhanuddin Rabbani returned to Afghanistan in November 2001, but former deputy foreign minister Hamid Karzai was eventually chosen to lead a transitional administration. In 2002, the Traditional Grand Assembly elected Karzai as Afghanistan’s interim president.

In November 2004, Karzai won the first-ever presidential election in Afghanistan.

Click here for 2004 Afghanistan Presidential Election Tracker 

The 2005 legislative election took place in September after a series of logistical and security setbacks.

Among the winners were three former Taliban officials, two relatives of the current president, several female activists, Yunus Qanuni—who finished second in last year’s presidential election and commands an alliance that opposes Karzai—and former president Burhanuddin Rabbani.

The election was branded by Karzai as a "historic day" for Afghans.

Click Here for Afghanistan’s 2005 Legislative Election Tracker

The year 2006 proved deadly year for coalition troops in Afghanistan. Nearly 20,000 soldiers fought a strong Taliban force, most intensely in the south. In August, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) took over from the U.S.-led coalition and commanded all operations in the south of Afghanistan.

A fragile security situation along Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan has made the conflict ever more difficult to control.

In December 2006, Karzai gave an emotional speech in which he deplored the deaths of civilians caused by NATO air bombings, saying, "We can’t prevent the terrorists from coming from Pakistan, and we can’t prevent the coalition from bombing the terrorists, and our children are dying because of this. (...) The cruelty is too much."

In August 2007, a report by the United Nations (UN) said that Afghanistan supplies more than 90 per cent of the world’s heroin. The document claimed that the Taliban is still involved in the opium trade.

Throughout 2008, NATO increased calls for its members to send more troops to Afghanistan. In April 2008, Karzai survived an assassination attempt. The Taliban continued to stage deadly attacks throughout the year. In June, the Afghan government said Pakistan’s intelligence agency was behind Karzai’s assassination attempt.

Despite the presence of over 34,000 American troops on the ground, June 2008 was the deadliest month for U.S. and coalition troops since 2001.

Coalition forces also intensified their operations, including aerial bombings, against rebel targets. Karzai, for his part, grew increasingly vocal about the rising number of civilian deaths. In December 2008, he asked then U.S. president-elect Barack Obama to address this issue, saying, "Our demand is that there will be no civilian casualties in Afghanistan. We cannot win the fight against terrorism with air strikes."

2009 Presidential Election

A new presidential election will take place on Aug. 20. President Hamid Karzai is seeking re-election.

Karzai has been Afghanistan’s president since November 2004, when he won the first-ever presidential election in the country with 55.4 per cent of all cast ballots. Before that, he headed an interim government for two years.

Several contenders are seeking to succeed Karzai. Among them are Afghan-American professor Ali Ahmad Jalali, independent candidate Abdullah Abdullah, a medical doctor, governor of Nangarhar province Gul Agha Sherzai, speaker of the House Yunus Qanuni, former attorney general Abdul Jabbar Zhabit, former finance minister Ashraf Ghani, former planning minister Ramazan Bashardost, former pro-Soviet fighter general Abdul Rashind Dostum, former United States ambassador to Afghanistan Zalmay Khalilzad, former Afghan president Burhanudin Rabbani, former finance minister Anwar-ul-Haq Ahadi, and current Balkh province governor Ata Mohammad Noor.

Karzai has been recently criticized by human rights groups for picking Mohammad Qasim Fahim as one of his two vice-presidential nominees. Fahim is a former mujahedeen commander. The mujahedeen groups fought against Soviet forces in the 1970s and 1980s, and later fought each other during the Afghan civil war of the 1990s.

On Jun. 17, Karzai defended his choice, saying, "The choosing of Fahim as my vice-president was a decision that I made for the good of the country, for the unity of the country, for the strength of Afghanistan in which it has a government that is Afghan and not influenced from outside."

Two surveys, conducted by Glevum Associates and the International Republican Institute suggested that Karzai and Abdullah would reach the second round.

Voting took place on Aug. 20. At least 26 people were killed in election-related violence. Election official Zekria Barakzai estimated the turnout at between 40 to 50 per cent. Preliminary results are not expected until late August or early September.

On Aug. 25, just before the electoral body released a first round of results, Abdullah called for calm, saying, "I’m urging Afghans... to be patient and to show responsibility. I think that the people don’t want to resort to violence."

Preliminary results showed Karzai slightly ahead with 40.6 per cent, followed by Abdullah with 38.7 per cent. The Independent Election Commission said it was still "too early" to call the ballot.

Early data suggested that close to 5.5 million Afghans voted in the poll, significantly down from the 2004 presidential election, which saw 8.1 million votes cast.

Allegations of fraud, including ballot stuffing and phantom polling, quickly emerged after Election Day. The UN-backed Electoral Complaints Commission has been vocal in exposing serious cases of fraud and has ordered recounts in some stations.

Aleem Siddique, a UN spokesman, warned that "there are no winners in this election yet," adding, "Afghanistan’s election commission still has to conduct a partial recount from suspect districts. The election commission is also required to annul returns from polling stations where there is clear evidence of irregularities, as ordered by the Electoral Complaints Commission. Only after these actions have been taken can any provisional results be finalized."

On Sept. 11, Abdullah’s campaign called for a thorough investigation into the allegations of fraud. Abdul Satar Murad, Abdullah’s campaign chief in Kabul, declared: "The nation has the right to know who got the most votes in every area [or else] the nation and the people will lose their trust in the system."

Richard Holbrooke, the U.S. special envoy to the region, has called for patience with the political process and has abstained from condemning Karzai’s campaign over the fraud allegations.

On Sept. 16, a new set of preliminary results were released—10 days after the IEC was supposed to announce final results. Karzai was ahead with 54.6 per cent, and Abdullah had slipped to 27.8 per cent.

Karzai welcomed commented on the release, saying that he "welcomed the partial election results."

On Sept. 23, Grant Kippen, chairman of the UN-backed Electoral Complaints Commission, said that, instead of ordering a full recount of all cast ballots, "a sample [of the ballots] will be drawn and that sample will be used as the basis to make a decision" about whether the results of the election can be validated or not. The IEC agreed with the ECC on this point.

On Sept. 26, UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon referred to the Afghan election, declaring, "The level of alleged electoral irregularities has generated significant political turbulence leading to fears of a return to violence when [final] election results are announced. (…) When the entire electoral process is completed, it will be of critical importance for the results to be accepted by all so that the election of Afghanistan’s future president can be certified and a new government can be formed."

On Oct. 5, the recount plan put forth by the EIC and the ECC began. The deputy director of the election commission, Zekria Barakzai, said that close to 13 per cent of the ballot boxes would be subject to the recount, and the electoral body will announce final results "by the end of next week."

Also on Oct. 5, Peter Galbraith, the former second-highest ranking official at the UN mission in Afghanistan, said that the UN "did not exercise its responsibility" in combating fraud, adding that the institution failed to do enough to stop "preventable" problems in the election.

On Oct. 19, an ECC decision discounted the ballots from 210 polling stations. The certified results from the remaining ballots gave Karzai 49.67 per cent of the vote, followed by Abdullah with 30.59 per cent.

On Oct. 20, Karzai appeared at a news conference with Democratic Massachusetts senator John Kerry and UN special representative to Afghanistan Kai Eide, to announce that a run-off would take place on Nov. 7, adding, “Unfortunately, the election of Afghanistan was defamed. Any result that we were getting out of it was not able to bring legitimacy.”

On Nov. 1, Abdullah withdrew from the run-off and urged supporters “not to demonstrate.” Abdullah said he was disappointed with Karzai’s decision to refuse his request to make changes to the IEE, adding, “In one hour, all my conditions could have been implemented. Unfortunately, until the last moment we were waiting, but we heard they rejected our appeals.”

On Nov. 2, the run-off was cancelled. IEC chairman Azizullah Ludin explained the decision, saying, “The Independent Election Commission declares the esteemed Hamid Karzai as the president (...) because he was the winner of the first round and the only candidate in the second round. (...) The constitution of Afghanistan does not require any sort of turnout parameters for the second round.”

Political Players

President: Hamid Karzai
Vice-presidents: Ahmad Zia Massoud and Karim Khalili

The president is elected to a five-year term by popular vote.

Legislative Branch: In accordance with the new constitution, the Meli Shura (National Assembly) will have two houses. The Wolesi Jirga (House of the People) will have a maximum of 249 members, elected to five-year terms. The Meshrano Jirga (House of Elders) will have one elected representative from each provincial council and one elected representative from each district council, as well as several presidential appointees which must include two representatives of the disabled and two representatives of Kuchi nomads. Half of all presidential appointees must be women. The Loya Jirga (Traditional Grand Assembly) encompasses the members of the National Assembly and the chairpersons of the provincial and district councils, and is convened exclusively to rule on issues related to independence, national sovereignty, territorial integrity, and supreme interests of the country; to amend the constitution; or to impeach the president.

Results of Last Election:

President - Aug. 20, 2009

(1) Preliminary uncertified results released on Sept. 16, 2009
(2) Certified results released on Oct. 19, 2009.

	Aug. 20 (1)	Aug. 20 (2)
Hamid Karzai	54.6%	49.67%
Abdullah Abdullah	27.8%	30.59%
Ramazan Bashardost	9.2%	n.a.
Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai	2.7%	n.a.
Other candidates	5.7%	19.74%

* The second round, scheduled for Nov. 7, was cancelled on Nov. 2, following Abdullah's withdrawal.

House of the People - Sept. 18, 2005

A total of 249 non-partisan candidates were elected.