Millions of Afghans voted in a mostly peaceful run-off to elect a successor to President Hamid Karzai yesterday, a decisive test of the country’s ambitions to transfer power democratically for the first time in its tumultuous history.
Most foreign troops will leave by the end of 2014, and whoever takes over from Karzai will inherit a troubled country plagued by an assertive Taliban insurgency and an economy crippled by corruption and the weak rule of law.
The election pitted former anti-Taliban fighter Abdullah Abdullah against ex-World Bank economist Ashraf Ghani after neither secured the 50 per cent majority needed to win outright in the first round on April 5.
There were far fewer incidents of violence than had been feared and, as after the first round of voting, there was a palpable sense of relief in the Afghan capital. Voting ended at 1.30pm.
“I’m from this country so I am never afraid of threats,” said Lajiullah Azizi, a hospital worker who voted in western Kabul just minutes after a small bomb exploded at his polling station. “I hope this election will bring peace.”
Officials immediately began counting ballots, although Afghanistan’s difficult terrain, where ballot boxes have to hauled by donkey from some of its remotest corners, means preliminary results will not be known until July 2.
“Based on what I saw, it’s been a very calm election day with vigilant security,” Thijs Berman, the chief observer of the EU Election assessment team in Afghanistan.
Karzai, standing down after 12 years in power marked by increasingly sour relations with the West, is certain to retain a hand in politics but has been tight-lipped about his plans.
I’m from this country so I’m never afraid of threats
“Today Afghanistan takes a step towards stability, development and peace. Come out and determine your destiny,” Karzai, clad in his trademark green Afghan robe, said after casting his ballot.
Later, in a video distributed by his office, he added: “This is a major step at a time when Afghanistan’s enemies try to disrupt the election.”
The main source of contention with the West is Karzai’s refusal to sign a security pact with the United States allowing a small contingent of US forces to remain in the country beyond 2014. Both Abdullah and Ghani have promised to sign it promptly.
“Looking ahead, the US stands ready to work with the next president of Afghanistan,” the US Ambassador to Afghanistan, James B. Cunningham, said in a statement.
“Today marks the start of a new era for Afghanistan, and Afghans can be proud of what they have achieved.” Twelve million voters were eligible to cast ballots at 6,365 polling centres across Afghanistan, from windswept deserts on the Iranian border to the rugged Hindu Kush mountains.
There were isolated cases of violence but voters were not put off by a couple of rockets landing in Kabul and other attacks, in which one person was reported injured. Long queues snaked out of polling centres soon after voting began at 7 am.
Rocket attacks were also reported in Ghazni province.
In a more serious incident, two tribal elders were killed when they defied a Taliban warning in Kunar province not to participate in the elections, triggering a gun battle between villagers and insurgents, local officials said. Four rockets landed in the provincial capital. No casualties were reported.