UN Warns: Credibility of Next Afghan Election ‘Critical’

After Crooked Votes in 2009, 2010, Will the Next One Be Any Better?

Announcing the renewal of their “mission to Afghanistan” through at least March of 2014, the United Nations expressed concern about the upcoming 2014 election, insisting it was “critical” for the election process to go credibly this time.

The 2014 Presidential election is set for April 5, 2014, and would-be candidates have already warned that they may not even bother if the system is as poorly set up as it was for the 2009 and 2010 votes.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai “won” reelection in 2009, though it would be more fair to say he achieved a second term in office by refusing to make any reforms until his opponent in the run-off vote simply dropped out.

If 2009 was an embarrassment, the 2010 parliamentary votes were an absolute travesty, with every single election in doubt, leading the election commission banning some apparent winners and eventually getting to the point where commission officials were just picking winners and losers seemingly on a whim.

Since then Afghanistan has gotten even more bribe-happy and corrupt, and no real reforms have been made, so there is no reason to believe the 2014 election, in which Karzai will not be able to run because of term limits, will be any more fair.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.