Official campaign opens in Afghan presidential poll
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-09-07 14:10

The official month-long campaign for Afghanistan's first-ever direct presidential election opened on Tuesday in what will be a major test of U.S.-led nation-building efforts since the 2001 ouster of the Taliban.

Incumbent President Hamid Karzai, who has the strong backing of the United States and the West, is seen as favorite to win the Oct. 9 poll, but rivals may force him into a run-off.

The official month-long campaign for Afghanistan's first-ever direct presidential election opened September 7, 2004, in what will be a major test of U.S.-led nation-building efforts since the 2001 ouster of the Taliban. From (L-R) each candidates photograph is pasted according to his position in the ballot papers: 1.Abdul Latif Pidram 2.Hamid Karzai 3.Homayoon Shah Asifi 4.Mir Mohammad Mahfoz Nidaie 5.Mohammad Mohaqiq 6.Sayed Ishaq Gilani 7.Abdul Satar Sirat 8.Abdul Hafiz Mansoor 9.Ghulam Farooq Nijrabi 10.Ahmad Shah Ahmadzai 11.Abdul Hasib Aryan 12.Wakil Mangul 13.Abdul Hadi Khalilzai 14.Mohammad Ibrahim Rashid 15.Mohammad Younus Qanoni 16.Masooda Jalal 17.Sayed Abdul Hadi Dabir 18.Abdul Rashid Dostum.  [Reuters]

Taliban guerrillas have vowed to disrupt the U.N.-sponsored polls, which U.S. President Bush hopes to see go smoothly ahead of his own election show-down in early November.

Bush sent U.S. forces into Afghanistan in 2001 to overthrow the hardline Islamic Taliban regime after it refused to hand over al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden following the Sept. 11 attacks.

Bush will be particularly keen to be able to hold up Afghanistan as a relatively successful foreign policy initiative to balance the difficulties he has faced in the subsequent U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

Security has been an overriding concern. Taliban guerrillas and their militant Islamic allies have vowed to disrupt the polls and close to 1,000 people, including security forces, militants, election workers, aid workers and civilians, have been killed in a campaign of violence over the past 12 months.

The violence continued despite the efforts of an 18,000-strong U.S.-led force hunting the militants.

During the campaign, which lasts until Oct. 6, candidates are promised equal access to state-run media and can hold rallies and deliver speeches in the provinces.

However, candidates have expressed concern that Karzai has an unfair advantage when it comes to state media resources. A report by the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission and the United Nations pointed to a nationwide pattern of self-censorship, given concerns about intimidation.

The latter was particularly the case in the northeast, south and west, where powerful factional leaders hold sway.

ELECTIONS DELAYED

Both the presidential and parliamentary polls were due to be held last June, but were delayed due to security and logistical concerns. Parliamentary elections were put off until next April because resources are overstretched.

There are 18 candidates for the October vote, but the field is expected to be whittled down as the weakest candidates form alliances.

More than 10.5 million of a population of between 25 million and 28 million have registered to vote, far surpassing earlier expectations but raising allegations of multiple registrations.

Voting will also take place among the hundreds of thousands of Afghans still living as refugees in neighboring Pakistan and Iran, where campaigning is also technically permitted.

Victory requires 51 percent of the vote, otherwise a run-off will be called, which could delay results until November.

Karzai's closest challenger appears to be former education minister Yunus Qanuni, a leading member of the Northern Alliance, the grouping of ethnic minority factions that united against the Taliban militia and helped overthrow it in 2001.

He must bind the Northern Alliance's myriad factions if he is to have a hope of beating Karzai, a task no one has yet managed.

Qanuni appears to have the support of powerful Defense Minister and Northern Alliance leader Mohammad Qasim Fahim, who had once been tipped as Karzai's running mate, as well as that of his long-time colleague, Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah.

The three ethnic Tajiks may also try to bring on board ethnic Uzbek General Abdul Rashid Dostum and ethnic Hazara Haji Mohammad Mohaqiq to broaden their ethnic support base. Both Dostum and Mohaqiq are candidates for president.

Despite Afghanistan's conservative Islamic values, women account for more than 41 percent of registered voters, and there is one female candidate, Massouda Jalal, a doctor who has attracted much media attention but little following.

Tribal and ethnic loyalties are expected to play a big role in how people vote. Karzai is the leading candidate from the majority Pashtuns, the traditional rulers of Afghanistan, but also the source of Taliban support.

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