On Thursday, Aug. 20, the polls will open for Afghanistan's presidential election. This is the first election since the U.S. led invasion in 2001, to be primarily run by Afghans, and as you can imagine, in a country that's been the site of conflict for decades, the election process has many faults. The validity of the election is threatened by potential fraud, disenfranchisement of women, strict voting regulations and threats of violence from the Taliban.Women's votes are at particular risk due to the fact that polling locations are sex-segregated, and the country's Independent Election Commission estimates that there is a shortage of approximately 13,000 female poll workers; meaning women who do intend to vote, will have no polling place at which to do so.
Additionally, immense voter registration fraud is suspected. While male voters' ballots must include an ID photo, women's are not required to do so. Sima Samar, Chair of the Afghan Independent Human Rights Commission, is extremelely concerned by the unusually high number of female voter registrations coming from traditional and conservative regions, and suspects voter fraud.
Other threats to the general election, and even moreso, to women's ability to leave home and cast their ballot, are Taliban threats of violence. Despite a government-issued request that international media not cover any election-day violence so as not to further scare and deter voters, current President, Hamid Karzai, has urged voters to cast their ballots no matter what. Additional peacekeeping troops will be deployed to protect voters.
Photo courtesy of flikr.com
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