2 Nov 2009

Afghan elections: calling it a mess is a little euphemistic

The West first bends President Karzai’s arm to concede to a second round of voting. Few people see how the fraud or insurgent-led violence of the first round won’t worsen this time.

Then the challenger drops out. Why would he stay in? He won’t win, and prefers a principled withdrawal to an unruly defeat.

So now the West tries to bend Karzai’s arm into cancelling the election…

Granted, you’d get no legitimacy from a one-candidate vote, held in a warzone. But you get none from cancelling the vote and letting Kabuls elite muddle their way through finding a rubber stamp.

Five months of mayhem couldn’t really have ended any more chaotically or with a worse example of democracy in action. The people aren’t part of this process. They’re not even courted: there’s no campaigning, just backroom deals.

This is not what democracy looks like, fledgling or not, and NATO now lacks the “credible partner” it badly needs.

We’re pushing through Kabul’s traffic now to the electoral commission’s press conference. More soon….