President Hamid Karzai gets second term, no runoff

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CJ: Om Prakash Yadav

Tue, Nov 03, 2009 14:50:22 IST

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AFGHAN PRESIDENT Hamid Karzai has been declared elected in the presidential election, which was held on August 20 this year. The independent Election Commission’s Chairman Azizullah Ludin declared Karzai elected without going for the run off election, which was scheduled on November 7.

The presidential election, which became controversial due to large scale rigging and bungling in which involvement of UN officials was also established, was challenged by many people. The elections were also not accepted by many because Karzai, could not achieve 50 per cent of the votes as required under the country's constitution to be declared elected.

This situation necessitated a runoff election between Hamid Karzai and Dr Abdullah Abdullah, another prominent candidate. Dr Abdullah had been levelling serious charges of fraud and rigging in the election against Karzai and had also demanded the dismissal of the Chief of Election Commission, because he alleged that he has been working in connivance with Karzai.

Abdullah had given some suggestions to the President and the UN with regard to conduction of a peaceful and fair runoff election, stating that if these suggestions were not incorporated in the runoff, there was no point in it. As the deadline set by Abdullah expired, he decided to refrain and withdraw from these second elections.

Now, the Election Commission was left with two options. It may have gone for the runoff election even when there is no second candidate in the fray, because Article 61 of the country's constitution provides for a runoff in case none of the candidates secure 50 per cent of votes cast.

The Commission had been deliberating on this, but the nations who have a military presence in the country, like USA and many European NATO countries was not in favour of going for these as they posed an additional risk of lives for the personnel posted here.

After the IEC's declaration, Karzai is sure about a second tenure but, his moral authority is at stake. He could not secure 50 per cent votes and this lessened his credibility in front of the international community and the Afghani people. The USA on the other hand is desperately trying to win over Dr Abdullah to join the government under Karzai. It is noteworthy that Dr Abdullah has already served under Karzai as Foreign Minister.

Obama is facing a tough time in regard to Afghanistan. He is yet to decide on the issue of sending 40,000 more US troops to Afghanistan as demanded by Mc Crystal. The security situation in this country is deteriorating fast and writs of Afghan government do not run in majority of the provinces.

The top Taliban and Al-Qaeda leaders including Osama and Mullah Mohammad Omar, are still on the run. Pakistan is also under siege, its war against TTP is not yielding desired results.

Under the prevailing situation, the South Asian region may witness some more troublesome years. It remains to be seen that whether the grotesque legacy of Bush in the region could be shed or carried forward by Barrack Obama and Hamid Karzai. But one thing can be said for sure, that the last elections in Afghanistan became a missed opportunity.