The 2009 Afghan Elections – Both Parties Claim Victory

President Hamid Karzai and his most serious challenger, Abdullah Abdullah were the leading candidates going into Thursday’s election. Based on their own observers’ reports, both the Karzai and the Abdullah camps are claiming they have won and they have won with a large enough majority to avoid a run-off election. Afghan law requires that over 50% of the vote must be won by a candidate or a run-off election must occur.

President Karzai’s campaign chief, Din Mohammad has claimed such victory. Abdullah has made the same claim. Despite their claims, the world still awaits the official results to see who will be the Afghan President for the next five years.

Ballots have been counted and they are being transported to the capital. Unofficial results may be released on Friday or Saturday. Official results will not be released till September 3rd. If a second election is necessary it will be held in the fall.

Voter turnout was lower in the 2009 Afghan elections than in the 2004 elections. It is estimated that only 40-50% of voters turned out for Thursday’s elections compared to 70% in 2004. As was concerned, it appears that voter turnout was the lowest in the southern and eastern regions where the Taliban have more of a stronghold and where most of the Taliban attacks occurred.

Turnout was low due to the Taliban threats and attacks in their efforts to disrupt the election process. While the Taliban was able to keep some people away from the polls, their effort failed to create any major disruption. Taliban attacks killed 26 Afghans on Thursday. There are also reports of one ballot box being burned by the Taliban.

It has long been expected that the results would be disputed and that questions of fraud would occur. There have been numerous reports of voter fraud and ballot box stuffing.

Even with the lower voter turnout and the violence from the Taliban, the 2009 Afghan elections have been called a success. Karzai, Abdullah and President Obama have all claimed the election a success. Karzai and Abdullah are also claiming victory.

Written by Denise Clay