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| Wednesday, 8 September 2004 |
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Afghanistan kicks off election campaign KABUL, Tuesday (AFP) Campaigning for next month's presidential election in Afghanistan was to kick off Tuesday, opening a race in which a war-weary and ethnically-divided people will chose their leader for the first time. Eighteen candidates including US-backed incumbent Hamid Karzai are running in the October 9 vote, which will fall three years after the United States unleashed a military assault to destroy the Taliban regime for harbouring Osama bin Laden after the September 11 attacks. Voters will cast their ballots in 5,000 polling stations run by about 130,000 staff, covering areas so mountainous and remote they are only accessible by donkey or on foot and lack normal communication links. Fundamentalist fighters loyal to the ousted Taliban rulers have vowed to disrupt the polls and have been waging a bombing and guerrilla campaign, killing more than 20 people including 12 election workers since May. Despite the bloodshed, about 10.5 million people have registered to vote in the central Asian state's first-ever presidential elections - more than the 9.8 eligible voters originally forecast by the United Nations. While the figures reflect the enthusiasm of many Afghans about their chance to choose their own leader, the numbers also point to widespread fraud and multiple registration. Voters have been subject to harassment and abuse, according to a report by the United Nations and the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission. Some had their cards forcibly confiscated "by commanders, state authorities and private individuals," while others were abused for not obtaining voter registration cards, the report found. It warned the elections would be affected by insecurity, lack of information and the control of regional warlords and militias. Karzai has tried and largely failed to extend his control outside the capital Kabul and into medieval-era provinces which remain under the sway of regional warlords. |
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