Karzai and Abdullah claiming victory while continuing the counting of votes

Kabul, 21 Aug 2009. - The campaign teams of the two main contenders the Afghan President Hamid Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah, today gave secure victory in the elections this Thursday, though the Election Commission rejected their estimates.
"Our initial indications show that our candidate is leading (...) Of course, we will wait to scrutiny but we can predict as our candidate will have over 50 percent of the votes and thus win the first round," said Efe a spokesman for Karzai team, Sediq Sediqqi.
Sediqqi acknowledged that there is "too early to declare victory" and that it will take to count the Electoral Commission, but was confident that the candidacy of the current president has a definite advantage.
The Pashtun Karzai, the favorite according to previous surveys the elections, you need to exceed 50 percent of the vote to be crowned victor in the first round, a possibility ruled out by the team of his main rival.
"It is true that Karzai has an advantage. We are in the best situation. Abdullah, for now, takes 62 percent of the vote, while Karzai has just 32 percent, "said Efe Tajik opposition spokesman, Fazel Sangcharaki.
Although Karzai was leaving with a big lead in voting intentions over their rivals before the election, the claims of his campaign, and also that of his rival, only one day after the elections were censured by the Election Commission.
"Neither confirm nor do we accept these claims. We begin to report the count of results from 25 August. So no candidate can claim to victory, "said Efe Electoral Commission spokesman, Noor Mohammad Noor.
That assessment was endorsed shortly after by the secretary of the body, Daoud Ali Najafi, who called a news conference the ads of the candidates as "unreliable" and asked the press and the population that creates only the data from the Commission.
In the last few hours there has been a trickle of allegations of electoral fraud, with cases of children depositing the vote, people who did it twice and control schools without independent observers and auditors of the candidates.
Of these criticisms were echoed yesterday as the third candidate in the running, the Hazara Ramazan Bashardost, who used bleach to prove he could erase the ink impregnated in the finger to control the vote and criticized today the two favorites.
"What they are doing Karzai and Abdullah shows that do not respect the electoral law. And if you do not respect the law now, what will they do when they come to power, "asked today Efe after learning the demands of their rivals.
Bashardost preferred to wait to have more data on possible irregularities, the Secretary of the Commission promised to evaluate each case in the procedure before the agency to deposit all possible complaints.
"The massive fraud is out-assured Najafi Efe after the press conference. In any case there are irregularities at different points that we consider to reach to a decision. "
Both Najafi as Noor confirmed that the Election Commission has almost completed the counting of votes, and the absence of data on four of the 34 provinces, the spokesman estimated that the participation is between 45 and 50 percent of the voters.
Analysts feared a low turnout, after the Taliban was asked to boycott the process and threatened to retaliate those citizens who acudieran to vote, between 17 million calls to the polls.
Although security dome counted some 130 acts of violence and fifty casualties, both Afghan President Hamid Karzai and its international allies have said worst expectations and welcomed the holding of the elections.
Among those who have expressed their satisfaction with the progress of the process is the commander of foreign troops in the country, Stanley McChrystal, who in a statement praised the "commendable job" of the security forces to protect the vote.
Various international sources consulted by Efe assessed the electoral exercise as a "moderate success".

Millions of Afghans turnout despite threats from Taliban

Kabul, 20 Aug 2009. - Millions of Afghans exercised their right to vote today to choose a new president on a day that left fifty dead victims of Taliban violence, which had a magnitude less than expected by the authorities.
Schools closed one hour later than scheduled, the hours 16.00 local (11.30 GMT) - for more people to exercise their right to vote and the Electoral Commission welcomed the fact that 6,199 schools (95 per percent of total) could open its doors.
"The elections have passed in a peaceful manner, said at a news conference the president, Hamid Karzai. I congratulate our people for their courage and hope that our country succeed. "
According to top security officials, election day there were 130 attacks, many shells and four of them suicide bombers, who killed 17 members of security forces and 9 civilians and wounded 52 other people.
In addition, 21 Taliban were killed and another twenty were wounded, police said, in a shootout against the security forces in the northern Baghlan, where the Electoral Commission decided to extend the voting hours for another hour, until six, after happened.
Also killed a U.S. soldier of ISAF in a mortar attack in the east.
But despite the sporadic acts of violence for most of the country, the UN mission (UNAMA) maintained that the Taliban attempts to destabilize the process and intimidate voters were "lower than expected."
"We are cautiously optimistic because we know that millions of people have defied the danger. We believe that predictions of a massive security situation have failed, "said Efe UNAMA spokesman, Aleem Siddique.
The authorities had declared a holiday the day to facilitate voting by citizens and street-at least in the capital woke up without the usual pedestrian or traffic and the vast majority of shops closed.
Security checks were more intense than usual and the police was used to give high the few vehicles on the road to record thoroughly with dogs trained in explosives.
Karzai opened the vote very early in the electoral college, an institute of the heavily protected heart of Kabul, from which asked citizens a vote for stability and peace "to build a better country."
"No to violence. Vote no to violence! "urged Karzai, asked about Efe, on leaving school, ready with the first voters to exercise their right to vote.
According to data from UNAMA, the vote went better than expected in the very north-female participation and suffers in the south, the traditional stronghold of the Taliban, where the conflict is sharper and easier to bullying.
The Election Commission has already launched the counting of votes without further public participation data, which, according to Interior Minister Mohammad Hanif Atmar, has been a 70 percent despite a boycott and threats from insurgents.
At the polls were called about 17 million Afghans in charge of electing the head of state in the second presidential election since the fall of the Taliban regime in 2001, with Karzai as the main favorite.
In recent days several of its rivals have reported their suspicions that the Government was preparing a fake, dummy records, vote buying, to ensure re-election without a runoff.
"They have detected fraud-confirmed Siddique. But nothing suggests that they were systematic. Where they occurred, measures were taken, so do not violate the integrity of the process. "
The doubts about the cleanliness of the process are based on the absence of a census, rampant illiteracy and logistical difficulties because of the difficult terrain and severe conflict against the Taliban.
"It's too early to judge. With all its limitations, the country has shown the world that can make an election. It is a good day for Afghanistan, "the UN spokesman.
Karzai, who needs more than 50 percent of votes to be reelected in the first round, had in the polls with much advantage over his rivals, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah and former Planning Minister Ramazan Bashardost.
The first official results will be announced on September 3, according to the Electoral Commission.

Afghans elect their president tomorrow with Karzai as favorite

Kabul, 19 Aug 2009. - Afghanistan held tomorrow, Thursday, the second presidential election since the U.S. invasion and the fall late 2001 the Taliban regime, who have called for a boycott and today have become sowing campaign of violence with assault to a bank in Kabul and an assassination attempt in Kandahar.
According to the Afghan Interior Ministry, the assault to the bank was resolved with the death of three insurgents at the hands of police, three of whose officers had three wounded.
In addition, a district chief and a tribal leader died and another person was injured by an exploding bomb their vehicle in the southern province of Kandahar, said a police source told Efe.
During the campaign, the Taliban have stepped up attacks on both foreign forces as Afghan authorities, in an attempt to deter at 17 million Afghans called to the polls tomorrow to elect a president and members of provincial councils.
To counter the Taliban boycott and "ensure broad participation" elections, the Afghan government did not hesitate now, when we celebrate Independence Day, to adopt censorship by prohibiting the dissemination of news about "any incident of violence" during voting hours.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai (an ethnic Pashtun majority in the country), the favorites according to a survey by the American Institute IRI, which promises a second round of the Tajik Abdullah Abdullah, former foreign minister and former deputy commander of the Afghan who led the anti-Taliban resistance and was killed days before the 11-S, Ahmed Shah Massoud.
According to the poll, the big surprise of the elections could be given by the Hazara (Shia Muslim ethnic group located primarily in eastern Afghanistan) Ramazan Bashardost, who is running from a simple tent outside parliament and in the third figure of intent vote, ahead of former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani.
Of the 41 original candidates, two of them women, a dozen have gone to support Karzai, who at the last minute has also attracted the support of the Uzbek Rashid Dostum, a controversial leader of the northern Afghan accused of war crimes and betraying all his former partners.
With some 100,000 soldiers of NATO or U.S. committed to ensuring a safe environment for weeks leading vote-in special operations were carried out in the Taliban strongholds in the southern province of Helmand, security is the great challenge of this election.
Karzai seeks reelection to a subject people increasingly to higher levels of violence, more than 2,100 civilians killed in military action in 2008 - and it remains among the poorest in the world, with one third of the population (7.3 million) threatened by hunger, as reported today Oxfam.
Oxfam joined critical voices against the corruption that has characterized the mandate of Karzai, who has prevented aid gets to its rightful recipients, and demanded "major reforms" to the future government to prevent further squandering funds.
Opponents of Afghan President also questioned the policy of alliances and its collusion with various sectors to ensure power, particularly with the reviled Dostum but also with other Afghan leaders, including Mohammed Fahim and Ismail Khan.
The BBC helped yesterday, Tuesday, to suspicions of fraud to disseminate its own investigation found that attempts to sell hundreds of voter cards and purchasing support for certain candidates.
"There has been traditional fraud in Afghanistan and this year there will be audits to detect it. The Afghan election commission has international support and I know that your preparation for the elections, if not flawless, stays close, "said Efe Maria Espinosa, the observation mission of the EU.
Analysts point out that after almost eight years of effort in Afghanistan, the international community can not afford failed elections and is willing to be benevolent to the Afghan electoral process, which takes place without any census.
Bashardost said he did not doubt that it has done everything possible to encourage Karzai, with induction attempts to vote as the recent publication of the U.S. Institute survey that gives the victor.
Until September 3 will not be known the provisional results of the election, which shall be final 17. If you had to hold a second round, this would be in October

Finish the campaign with a massive rally Taliban opposition and called for a boycott

Kabul, 17 Aug 2009. - Thousands of Afghans marched to the stadium in Kabul to provide support for the main opposition candidate, Abdullah Abdullah, the last day of the presidential election campaign in Afghanistan, where Taliban reiterated their call to boycott.
The elections, in which the favorites the current president, Hamid Karzai, will be held on October 20 in an atmosphere of complete uncertainty about the threats of Taliban insurgents, that described as "propaganda" American in a statement posted on the Internet .
The Taliban have denied that any agreement reached to allow the process, the authorities had announced one in July in western Badghis-and said that "most of Afghanistan" is under its control, so "there is no possibility of holding elections" , said, "except in a few cities and provincial centers."
Despite the fundamentalist threat, thousands of people with hats and flags came today celestial city stadium to wrap Abdullah, a dentist and former foreign minister who polls show the main rival of Karzai.
The candidate himself came to the dais between shoved and dragged by a horde of followers that his private guard, a group of Tajik armed with "Kalashnikov" - barely able to contain, to the point that several people suffered bruises.
In the stadium, followers of Abdullah uttered shouts of support for their candidate, a former lieutenant of Ahmed Shah Massoud, the leader of the Northern Alliance killed by fundamentalists in 2001 - whose photographs dominated the stage.
"Everyone wants change in Afghanistan and we are confident we will win," said Efe a spokesman for the campaign, while a white helicopter threw leaflets over the stadium to the delight of the audience with a message for change.
The last known survey published by the American Institute IRI, gives Abdullah 26 percent of the vote, behind the 44 percent awarded Karzai, a result that would the two candidates to a second round.
"To help youth, you must all lean to the national development of Afghanistan. Help me to win and I will help you, "he desgañitaba the candidate before the microphone as the crowd chanted his name and called it" useless " Karzai.
According to experts, the vote of Abdullah, father and mother Pashtun Tajik proceed on all of the members of this last race, second in the country and mass today at the stadium in Kabul, the place used by the Taliban to execute inmates.
Presidential elections are marked precisely by the threat of boycott of the Taliban and their attempts to derail the process with actions, such as the attack on Saturday at the ISAF headquarters in Afghanistan, which resulted in seven deaths.
Although the Government has promised to mobilize all its resources to protect the elections, Afghan Interior Minister Mohammad Hanif Atmar, acknowledged Efe on Sunday that its forces will not be able to guarantee one hundred percent security.
In their race to proclaim the winner without a runoff-for what you need more than 50 percent of the votes, Karzai spent today to rest and his team announced the withdrawal of four candidates that they will support the president.
"We met with him and saw that is committed to democracy and development in Afghanistan," said Efe one of them, Dr. Nasin Anise, who denied having negotiated a position in a hypothetical future government of Karzai.
President, Pashtun, has joined so far supports a dozen candidates and commitment to add votes of the various Afghan ethnic groups, although their opponents accuse him of having given to this to regional warlords and former "warlords".
"Seeing the kind of national political participation and we have created and the fact that a dozen candidates support us, things have worked well," said Efe campaign spokesman for Karzai, Waheed Omar.
Abdullah today visited several provinces in the afternoon, as did the candidate Ashraf Ghani and Ramazan Bashardost, the latter an eccentric candidate who has run his business from a tent in Kabul and has moved it to the third position estimate to vote.

Karzai supports only foreign troops participating in televised debate

Kabul, 16 Aug 2009. - Afghan President Hamid Karzai, said today that ensured the presence of foreign troops in Afghanistan while the country is not prepared for his safety during his only appearance in a televised debate on the occasion of the presidential elections .
The campaign will end tomorrow, but so far Karzai-major-favorite in the polls, had refused to go the state broadcaster RTA studies to compare their ideas with those of its main rivals.
"We need foreign troops until the country self-sufficient, "said Karzai, who reviewed the achievements of his government in recent years and has sought to show that an idea long term to Afghanistan.
In the country there are currently some 100,000 foreign soldiers from about forty countries, but despite successive increases of soldiers in recent months ordered by governments Taliban activity has increased.
Just today, the secretary general of NATO, Fogh Rasmussen Andreas, "vital" mission that NATO plays in Afghanistan, where the maximum alert is registered after the attack Saturday at the headquarters of the organization in Kabul.
Despite the deteriorating security situation, much of the debate was however focused on economic improvement proposals and solutions to underdevelopment Afghanistan suffering, beaten for nearly three decades of war.
Accompanied on stage Karzai two of its major rivals, Ashraf Ghani and Ramazan Bashardost, who has moved it, according to the latest known-to third place in the preferences of voters for his perceived closeness to the Afghan people.
"I think I've done very well, but I won, but the people. I vote because I'm alone, but I am clean and honest, "assessed Efe his television role Bashardost minutes after the debate.
The candidate has campaigned from a store located in Kabul, and his populist message of support the poor stopped drinking Coca-Cola because he said not everyone could afford it-has become popular among voters, analysts say.
The debate, broadcast on state television Afghan consisted of two games per round of questions and an Islamic prayer performed by a local journalist, to which answered the three candidates one at a time and without exchange opinions among themselves.
Both Ghani and Bashardost-both former ministers attacked Karzai, the current president during the debate, with references the alleged inefficiency and corruption of his government, although President defended himself with an eye toward the next term.
"Early in my government revenue per person was $ 170. Are now 490 and still rising. I have complete confidence in the free market, and Afghanistan is a free market, "said Karzai.
But the big surprise of the debate was the absence of Karzai's main rival in the polls, Abdullah Abdullah, who said the presenter, days earlier rejected the terms of the appearance, his spokesman would not comment Efe reason.
The last known survey published by the International Republican Institute, predicts 44 percent of the vote for Hamid Karzai, six points below the required majority to be crowned victor in the first round.
The poll, released on August 14, gives 26 percent of the votes Abdullah and 10 percent to Deputy Bashardost, but only the top two candidates will to the second round if neither achieves more than half of the votes.
By participating in the debate today, Afghan politicians sold one of his last opportunities to present public opinion, as the election campaign officially ends at midnight on Monday and Tuesday.
Voting will take place on August 20 and to ensure the safety of colleges today the government promised to table all its resources, recognizing that the Taliban will out a massive campaign of intimidation.

A Taliban attack against ISAF headquarters of the Afghan campaign muddies

Kabul, 15 Aug 2009. - The Taliban now muddied the Afghan campaign with a suicide bombing that caused seven deaths in front of the ISAF headquarters in Kabul, which occurred just hours after an attack with seven rounds against the Spanish military base in Herat in the west.
At 0830 am (0400 GMT), a deafening roar gave way A dense column of white smoke from the fortified district of Wazir Akbar Khan and visible from several points of Kabul.
They are based, among other buildings, the U.S. embassy and the headquarters of ISAF, the NATO mission in the country, as far as suicide came aboard a vehicle that blew up despite to the tight security.
The Afghan Ministry of Defense confirmed that the attack killed seven people and wounded to another 91, mostly Afghan workers waiting at the gates of the headquarters of the organization to enter the premises.
In a statement, ISAF recognized that the explosion took the lives of several civilians and several soldiers were also injured foreigners, but without to specify the number of victims.
The attack was claimed by the Taliban, whose spokesman, Zabiullah Mujahid said Efe by telephone from an undisclosed location that the purpose of suicide was to attack the U.S. embassy and the headquarters of the ISAF.
"(The attack) was executed with an SUV loaded with 500 kilograms of explosives," said Mujahid, who said he killed 25 people.
Local channels broadcast images of the teams of firefighters and rescue services efforts to extinguish the fire caused by explosion, including concrete blocks and security barriers that protect the central capital area.
The city of Kabul is under a strong surveillance patrol of ISAF, Afghan troops and local police, surrounding government buildings and access control the tracks have their headquarters where foreign embassies.
Despite As a result, the Kabul airport yesterday received the impact of two projectiles, according to the U.S. military, after eight more rockets fell in the city on August 4, launched from nearby rural areas to the capital.
In the rest of the country, despite the additional deployment of troops on the occasion of the elections, the Taliban have increased in recent weeks attacks and several rockets were fired yesterday on the Spanish Forward Support Base for the second time in a week.
The General Staff of the Spanish Defense (EMAD) detailed in Madrid that were released between 22.35 and 22.55 local time (18.05 and 18.25 GMT) on the basis, although there were no deaths or injuries.
Afghanistan held on August 20 presidential elections and to provincial councils, but the Taliban have asked the public to boycott the elections and have launched attacks across Afghanistan the process.
As well as threatening who vote to cut off fingers, insurgents have staged looting of candidates for office, killed activists and attempted to end the lives of several leading Afghan politicians.
On Thursday, former Afghan President Burhanuddin Rabbani, a supporter of opposition candidate Abdullah Abdullah, escaped unhurt from a Taliban ambush on their convoy as he traveled the northern district of Kunduz.
The candidate to vice president Mohamd Qasim Fahim, a former "warlord" who concurs in the list of the current head of state, Hamid Karzai, had another similar attack in late July, although unhurt.
"The enemies of Afghanistan, such attacks on the eve of the elections, they want to create fear among the people. But they must know that the Afghans know the importance of going to vote, "Karzai said today after the suicide bombing in Kabul in a statement.
His press officer, Sediq Sediqqi confirmed Efe that Karzai keep his campaign events and maintained that the Taliban "will fail to change the will of the people" despite his efforts to shake up the electoral process.

Taliban advance and desire for development of the population make the campaign

Kabul, 14 Aug 2009. - Some 17 million Afghans registered to vote in the second presidential election since the fall of Taliban in Afghanistan, marked by the advance of the Taliban, as well as the desire for reconstruction and development of the population.
"This is one of the most difficult electoral exercises I've seen," said a few days ago to the media on UN special representative in Afghanistan, Kai Eide.
The authorities planned to send almost 3,200 donkeys for carrying the polls to the most inaccessible places in this country of difficult terrain, but anecdotes aside, the main concern is the security situation.
"It's the Taliban factor. We can not expect a high turnout in some areas and provinces. In more than 10 districts will be difficult to hold elections, "said Efe a spokesman for the Afghan Foundation for a Free and Fair Elections (FEFA), Jandar Spinghar.
In recent weeks, international forces have launched several operations in the traditional Taliban stronghold of Helmand (south) in an attempt to ensure security before the presidential elections, the insurgents have decided to boycott.
In Kabul, many citizens complain that the situation has worsened, which recognized the own boss of foreign troops, Stanley McChrystal, who admitted in a recent interview with the newspaper "Wall Street Journal" that the Taliban "have taken advantage. "
The insurgents have a strong presence in much of southern and eastern Afghanistan, areas where the ethnic Pashtun majority, which traditionally come from the Taliban, but also the president, Hamid Karzai, who is running to republish mandate.
Karzai appears with the old "warlord" Tajik Mohammed Fahim as a candidate to vice president, a move that analysts attribute an attempt to split loyalties in the former Northern Alliance and attract the votes of the ethnic Tajik a, the second most populous of Afghanistan.
At the quarry to vote their hopes basa which surveys show to be more potent rival to Karzai, Abdullah Abdullah, a former foreign minister who worked closely with the guerrilla killed Ahmed Shah Mehsud, the Northern Alliance in their resistance against Taliban prior to the 11-S.
They and another 41 candidates in the running, former Finance Minister Ashraf Ghani, concur the elections as independent and outside the umbrella of political parties, which have matured in just the first-fragile democracy in Afghanistan.
"Tajiks vote the Tajiks. The Pashtuns a los pashtunes. Cada cual al suyo, este es el gran problema de Afganistán”, comentó a Efe un estudiante kabulí en el transcurso de un mitin de Ghaní.
Lealtades aparte, la difícil orografía y la falta de datos plausibles hacen casi imposible aventurar un pronóstico exacto, más allá de la ventaja que todos los analistas conceden a Karzai, visto desde hace meses por distintos tertulianos como el “vencedor inevitable”.
La dos encuestas más recientes, realizadas en julio de forma separada por el Instituto Republicano Internacional y el centro de análisis estadounidense Glevum, atribuyen, respectivamente, a Karzai el 44 y el 45 por ciento de los votos decididos, 18 y 20 puntos por encima de Abdullah, pero ese resultado obligaría a celebrar una segunda vuelta entre ambos.
Con la lucha antitalibán en manos de las tropas internacionales y el Ejército afgano, todos los candidatos se centran en el desarrollo, la reconstrucción del país y la creación de riqueza, mientras celebran mítines bajo extremas condiciones de seguridad.
“No están desarrollando estrategias. Sólo hay tácticas”, dijo a Efe una fuente de seguridad occidental sobre los candidatos en los comicios, que se celebran junto a las elecciones para los consejos provinciales.
Mientras Kabul se inunda de paneles electorales y grandes imágenes de sus candidatos, las tropas internacionales intentan que las 29.000 urnas para la votación sean emplazadas antes del 20 de agosto, incluso en las áreas bajo control talibán.
Tras esa fecha, un recuento que se promete lento: resultados iniciales para el 3 de septiembre, definitivos el 17 de ese mes, y la segunda vuelta, de ser necesaria, para la primera semana de octubre.