Aug
22
2009
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Post Election Reports |
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Written by JD Johannes
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Saturday, 22 August 2009 |
On election day I dipped my finger in the ink at a polling site in Kabul and ever since Afghans have been asking me if I voted.
I would explain that I didn't voted, just tested the ink.
But I had some fun with a few and would say, "Yes, I voted. I voted for Bashirdost because I too am Hazara!"
They would look at me for second, while I deadpanned.
Hazara's are an asiatic ethnicity that have a Chinese/Mongolian appearance.
Then I would smile and they got the joke. Then I would explain I just tested the ink. And the ink I tested is still on my right index finger.
The National Democratic Institute for International Affairs and its sister organization, International Republican Institute , released their preliminary statements on the elections in Afghanistan.
NDI and IRI have their roots in the Regan Administration helping fledgling democracies develop electoral systems by observing elections, training candidates and parties and making reccomendations to improve election systems.
(Full Disclosure, I was a consultant for NDI during their election observation mission.)
As a campaign professional I was very impressed by the election day monitoring and reporting systems of NDI and the other observer groups. The call centers resembled those of highly organized campaigns and real time information flowed in from across the country.
Before a few weeks ago, all I knew of election monitors was that Jimmy Carter would be on the news talking about some election either giving it the thumbs up or thumbs down.
But the process is much more involved and more thorough than the 30 second cable news story reveals.
The NDI initial statement is a good read and in a few weeks the groups will publish volumes completely documenting the Afghanistan elections and making recommendations.
One of the key graphs in the NDI report is on page 2 where it describes the flaws in the registration system.
As a campaign professional in the even numbered years, this distrubed me throughout my time in Afghanistan. Campaigns live and die by lists and databases. The integrity of an election is based on the list of registered voters.
Afghanistan does not have anything resembling a list of registered voters.
This is a serious flaw that opens the window for all kinds of chicanery.
Afghan politics is much like old fashioned machine politics. If the machines had lists to work off of, then they could serve as internal checks on each other to prevent fraud as the candidates/parties have the most incentive to catch/prevent fraud perpetuated by their opponents.
Results are trickling in, but the Afghanistan Independent Election Commission will not release the preliminary numbers until Tuesday.
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