[R-G] Afghan presidential vote delayed to August 20

[Anthony Fenton]

Afghan presidential vote delayed to August 20

7 hours ago

KABUL (AFP) — Afghanistan on Thursday delayed its second ever  
presidential election three months to August 20, expressing hope that  
extra US troops could ease the worst violence the country has seen in  
eight years.

President Hamid Karzai, who won the first presidential vote in 2004,  
is expected to lead candidates at the polls, despite weakened support  
among Afghanistan's 30 million citizens because of endemic violence  
and corruption.

"The commission decided to hold the election on the 29th of Asad which  
corresponds to August 20," Independent Election Commission chief  
Azizullah Lodin told a news conference.

The vote should have been held by May 22, in keeping with the  
constitution, but a postponement had been widely expected.

Around 70,000 foreign troops under NATO and US command are helping  
Afghan government forces quell an increasingly violent Taliban-led  
insurgency in Afghanistan, particularly in the south.

"The international forces have expressed their readiness to send more  
troops in the course of the elections process to ensure better  
security," the electoral commission said in a statement.

Afghan forces also said they would take measures to protect voters.

"But in both cases, taking the above-mentioned measures by the  
national and international security institutions requires more time,"  
said the commission.

Last year was the deadliest yet in the Taliban insurgency, launched  
when extremists regrouped after being ousted from government in the US- 
led invasion in late 2001 for sheltering the Al-Qaeda network.

Afghan electoral law invests the commission with the power to change  
the date of the poll -- which would include votes for provincial  
councils -- should anything call into question the legitimacy of the  
vote, Lodin said.

"I have all the arguments (for a postponement) and all the points,  
security, budgetary and technical problems... you can see how many  
problems we have here," the official said.

Preparations have also been hindered over the winter by snowfall that  
has cut off access to some areas.

The electoral commission, which has been registering voters since last  
October, previously spoke of intimidation and threats of suicide  
attacks, the hallmarks of extremist insurgents fighting against the  
government.

Questions have also been raised about the likelihood of voter turnout  
in insurgent hotspots along the southern and eastern borders with  
Pakistan, where the Taliban-led insurgency against Karzai and foreign  
troops is most intense.

Around 3,000 extra US troops have already deployed in the provinces of  
Logar and Wardak, crucial in neighbouring Kabul, but up to another  
30,000 soldiers, which would almost double the US presence, are  
expected later in the year.

One of their major tasks will be to secure the election, set to cost  
223 million dollars and paid for by Afghanistan's international  
allies, chiefly the United States.

The United Nations said a postponement was a "pragmatic necessity".

But the country's main opposition grouping, the National Front  
coalition of powerbrokers from the country's past decades of war,  
immediately condemned the delay as unconstitutional.

It meant Karzai would have no legitimacy as president after May 21,  
spokesman Sayed Aqa Fazil Sancharaki told AFP.

"We hope there is a proper decision about how to fill the political  
leadership vacuum," he said, suggesting an interim government may have  
to be appointed.

Analyst and university political science lecturer Nasrullah Stanikzay  
said any pre-election prolongation of Karzai's term would require a  
state of emergency that would have to be approved by parliament.

Serious contenders in the race against Karzai, who won the 2004 vote  
with 55 percent of the ballot, have yet to confirm their candidacies.

They include former finance minister Ashraf Ghani and former interior  
minister Ali Ahmad Jalali, both considered closer to the new US  
administration of President Barack Obama than Karzai, who has faced  
sharp Western criticism.