About five major candidates

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-08-19 11:10

Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai

Ghani is an American-educated Pashtun who grew up in Kabul, studied in the US and worked at the World Bank for 11 years.

After the Taliban collapsed, he served as the Finance Minister in the Transitional Islamic State of Afghanistan until the elections of 2004, during which he implemented several extensive reforms, including issuing a new currency.

This year, Ghani has sought the counsel of American political consultant, James Carville, who helped manage President Clinton's successful presidential bid in 1992.

The two have tried to model Ghani's campaign off President Obama's 2008 run, calling his campaign "A New Beginning," and pledging to provide an alternative to "years of misrule."

Ramazan Bashardost

Labeled by some as "Afghanistan's Ralph Nader," Bashardost has virtually no chance of winning the election, but has the potential to capture enough votes from Karzai to force a second-round runoff.

Bashardost's campaign office consists of a single tent pitched across the street from the Afghan Parliament, set up as a symbol of what he considers the inaccessibility of government.

An ethnic Hazara born in Ghazni Province, he served a brief stint as Karzai's Planning Minister from 2004-2005, until he was pressured to resign after openly criticizing the government, particularly over its misuse of aid from international agencies.

After his resignation, Basahardost ran for Parliament in 2006, receiving the third-highest vote total among nearly 400 parliamentary candidates.

As a Hazara, Bashardost has the potential to command the votes of the Shiite ethnic group that makes up as much as 20 percent of the country's electorate.

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About Election and Candidates

Related Links

• Office of President of Afghanistan
• Official Website of Dr. Abdullah Abdullah
• Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan
• Electoral Complaints Commission of Afghanistan
• UNDP's ELECT Project - Election Information