Afghanistan at the polls again

After the last elections in 2009 ended in echos of fraud and ballot stuffing, Afghanistan citiznes are trying once again to let their voices be heard in their government. There has been approximatley a 40% voter turnout in the September 18th elections, which is up from last August when the turnout was only around 30-33%. However, this percentage is still down from the last parliamentary elections in 2005 where tunrout was around 50%. The Taliban is still threatening violence and has already killed 14 people on voting day alone. General Petraeus and the United States are calling the elections a success, however other international voices are more skeptical. There have already been a number of fraud counts reported including stuffing ballot boxes, and people trying to vote with fake identity cards. Out of the 6,835 polling stations in the country 1,019 have been shut down because of security concerns. There are 249 seats available with 2,514 candidates running. Even with groups such as The Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan and the Independent Election Commission trying to ensure the election's validity it is still too early to tell whether a truly fair elcetion can be accomplished this time around. With preliminary results due on September 22nd and the final results on October 31st, this is an election that the world will want to keep its' eyes on.

See article from BBC at http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11360050 for more information.

By: Colin Zimmerman