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<<Previous -- Table of Contents -- Next>> AFGHANISTAN How
to Fix the Afghan Government Afghanistan's long electoral imbroglio
came to an abrupt end yesterday when the Electoral Commission declared
President Hamid Karzai the winner-thus cancelling a runoff against his
challenger, Dr. Abdullah Abdullah Zamariani. The runoff became superfluous
Sunday when Dr. Abdullah announced his withdrawal, That gap isn't solely due to the widespread electoral fraud that marred the first round of voting. On the best evidence available, even if all "dubious ballots" were discounted, Karzai could have still won in the first round. But the Electoral Commission and its UN supervisors (backed by the Obama administration) managed to persuade Karzai to accept a runoff. Dr. Abdullah himself doesn't claim that he could've won against Karzai. Over the phone from Kabul, he told me that he'd decided to drop out not because he believed he'd won the fIrst round but because the electoral process had been "sullied by practices that have no place in a democracy." "The people of Afghanistan have accepted elections as the best means of choosing their government and the policies they prefer," he said. "All I am trying to do is to underline the sanctity of the electoral process and the inviolability of the rules that all must obey if we are to build a democracy." ... Dr. Abdullah's statesmanlike stance provides a breathing space in which to sort out several crucial issues. The first is that credibility gap .... Yet removing the credibility gap is just the first step. The last eight years have shown that a presidential system, in which a single chief executive is supposed to have more power than any Afghan king, simply doesn't work. Afghanistan needs a parliamentary
system-in which all ethnic and religious communities can secure a share
of power in a coalition government.. .. Karzai and his supporters in
Washington persuaded the Bush administration to endorse the current
Constitution because they hoped America would remain engaged for A new coalition that represents all Afghan communities should also reassure all foreign powers with interests in Afghanistan. It's clear that Karzai isn't the man to lead such a new government. But he remains the best person to preside over the transition from a presidential to a parliamentary system .... (New York Post, November 3, 2009) <<Previous -- Table of Contents -- Next>> |
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