Afghanistan Election Update

It's just past 4:00 p.m. in Afghanistan when the polls are scheduled to close.

Reuters reports that calm is prevailed and voters are flowed into over 6,000 polling centers:

"I am so happy, so happy," says Khatereh Mushafiq, 18, her black veil decorated with white flowers pulled back from her beaming face as she went to vote at a girl's school in Kandahar.

"We (women) are also now taking part in the government and in society. People must take part, people must have a say."

According to Reuters, there were some reports of confusion over ballots that in some places list nearly 400 candidates, their photos and personal symbols, and run to up to seven pages.

At Afghan Election Blog, Sam Zarifi and Charmain Mohamed post that it seems like there is lower turnout and less excitement than there was for the presidential election in October 2004:

Yet it's hard to conclude anything: there are more polling stations and booths than last time, which could lead to shorter lines. Still, there is a sense that there have been fewer voters.

Also, the mood is different than during last year's election. There isn't the same excitement as there was last year; people are not as excited about voting or about the election.

Of course, this could be good thing--perhaps people are getting used to the process, and acting like voting is just a normal thing.

But it could also be a reflection of voter disappointment or cynicism about the candidates and the process.

The BBC also reports less than "brisk" voting:

The BBC's Andrew North in Kabul says, despite reports of queues in various parts of the country, there are signs that turn-out is lower than for last year's presidential vote.

At one polling station in Kabul there were handfuls of voters where last year there had been long lines.

Our correspondent says the picture emerging seems to be one of steady, rather than brisk voting.

At the UN-supported Joint Electoral Management Body's website, a round-up of quotations from around Afghanistan has been posted. They are all positive such as this one:

Ormani – 30 years – Gardez: "Of course all the female members of our family are very happy. I have my 3 sons with me here. My husband allowed us to come and vote, even my old father-in-law encouraged the female members to come and vote. We walked for 2 hours to come here."

The site also contains a number of photo galleries covering the entire election process.

As I was looking for sources for this post I was frustrated that there was an absence of coverage of the vote. As I read the reports about the calmness, relative lack of violence and lack of excitement, it finally hit me; its not that big a deal. The Afghans are getting used to this voting thing.

More Coverage at Publius Pundit.

Comments

[Rosemary]

Great articles! I came over from Publius, because I noticed you were able to trackback. Um...if you don't mind me asking...how? lol. I'd really appreciate the learning experience.

PS. You're a California Yankee? From upstate NY, by any chance? lol. Have a great day.

[Matthew Shugart]

As I have said in a few posts over at Fruits & Votes, I do not think this election could have been expected to have the kind of excitement--or turnout--that we saw either in the earlier presidential election, or in the Iraqi elections (outside of the areas where the boycott was effective).

There is no sense in which national power is at stake in these Afghan elections. The president was already elected and has a fixed term, and holds the far more important office under the Afghan constitution.

Because of the electoral system being used, there is no way that voters can select a party that promises to pursue a vision for the nation or even for an ethnic or religious group, as was the case with Iraq's party-list proportional system.

Instead, voters are voting only for a single candidate among sometimes HUNDREDS running in their district, with no party affiliations listed (or sometimes known). The margin between the last few winners in a district and the first few losers will be tiny.

There really is no way voters can use a system like this to express any kind of mandate or will. All they can do is vote for some local notable. And other than the handful of "most notable" candidates in any province, most of those elected will have really tiny vote shares.

For these reasons, there just is bound to be much less perceived to be at stake than in the Afghan presidential election or the Iraqi assembly elections.