|
Home>News Center>World | |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
Abuses in Afghan campaign, but UN sees fair vote
The campaign for Afghanistan's landmark presidential election has been marred by intimidation and official partiality, the United Nations said on Sunday, but it expects this week's vote to be relatively free and fair.
"In the light of previous agreements, Jamiat emphasizes and announces its support once again for Karzai's candidacy," said Rabbani, who was president in the mid-1990s after the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Afghanistan and the ouster of Moscow's protege, Najibullah.
His support was not unexpected since his son-in-law, Ahmad Zia Masood, is Karzai's running mate, but Rabbani reminded the president to abide by agreements with the Jamiat to maintain Islamic values, counter foreign influences and crack down on corruption.
"It should be said that when we see that someone acts wrongly and moves against the national interest, then Jamiat will not be quiet and will announce its last stance," the former president told a news conference in Kabul.
Karzai, who is one of 18 candidates in the fray, has barely campaigned because of security constraints. He escaped an assassination attempt last month in the southeast.
On Sunday, the president left for Berlin to accept an international award. He will be back on Monday.
The United Nations, which has made a study of the Afghan political situation along with the local human rights commission, said there were several instances of intimidation and partiality shown to particular candidates by government officials during the campaign.
Guerrillas from the Taliban, ousted in a U.S.-led war in 2001 for refusing to hand over militant leader Osama bin Laden, have vowed to disrupt the election.
NOT ENTIRELY FREE
The U.N. report said local officials in many areas were favoring either Karzai or his main challenger Yunus Qanuni.
"These less positive elements, perhaps inevitable after 25 years of war, are balanced not only by the fact that Afghans now have political choices before them but above all by the overwhelming wish of Afghans to vote and to create a government that represents their concerns," said Filippo Grandi, deputy special U.N. representative in Afghanistan.
"People are very eager to vote," he told reporters.
But he added: "It's a mixed picture. You are asking me if the environment is entirely free and fair. Of course it is not.
"But in balance people can cast their vote in most areas of the country with a relative degree of freedom and fairness."
The threat from the Taliban has overshadowed the campaign, although violence has been mainly restricted to the volatile south of the country.
On Friday, officials said they arrested 60 suspected Taliban guerrillas in the border town of Spin Boldak as they slipped in from neighboring Pakistan. They said a major plot to attack voting centers and government officials had been thwarted.
A total of 10.4 million Afghans have registered to vote. About 300,000 to 500,000 Afghan refugees in Pakistan and another 600,000 in Iran are also eligible to participate. Karzai is generally seen likely to get the most votes, but it is unsure if he will muster the 51 percent needed for an outright win. If no one gets a majority, the top two candidates will contest a runoff election in November. Karzai, handpicked by Washington for the presidency, is a Pashtun, the country's largest ethnic group and its traditional rulers. Qanuni is a Tajik, from northeastern Afghanistan. Analysts say voting in the divided and war-torn nation, where no elections have been held since the 1960s, could go mostly along ethnic lines, although Karzai has wide recognition. But he is also criticized by many for being too pro-Washington. President Bush, who himself faces re-election next month, has cited Afghanistan as a foreign policy success and is a key ally. |
|
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
