Many voters cast multiple ballots last year, and hundreds of polling centres reported fraudulent results [Reuters]Fraud is inevitable during Saturday's parliamentary election in Afghanistan, poll workers and international observers say, with even the most optimistic acknowledging that candidates will try to game the system.
Last year's presidential and provincial council ballots, after all, were marred by widespread misconduct.
The Electoral Complaints Commission, the international body that reviews allegations of fraud, invalidated more than one million ballots from the presidential vote, a decision that nearly forced a runoff election.
This year's vote is expected to be better, largely because the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) has implemented a number of reforms aimed at reducing fraud. The panel largely stopped issuing new voter registration cards, for example, to prevent voters from obtaining duplicates, and it has replaced thousands of poll workers accused of misconduct during last year’s election.
But with some level of fraud almost guaranteed, many observers say the real question is how the IEC and the international community will choose to respond, a decision that will go a long way towards shaping Afghan perceptions of the vote.
"It's practically impossible to stop, given the security situation and the fact that many of the candidates, candidate supporters and IEC staff are preparing for it," Martine van Bijlert, a co-director of the independent Afghanistan Analysts Network (AAN), said.
"In the insecure areas, there will be ballot-stuffing ... in the secure areas you will see tally fraud, intimidation and some small-scale ballot stuffing."
No comments:
Post a Comment