Are Candidates Really Serious about the Elections?

Posters, posters, posters…. All around Kabul city what one can see is posters carrying faces, faces and faces of candidates running for the country’s second Parliamentary Elections to be held on the 18th of this month. The stunningly large number of posters Kabul has ever seen puts to doubt the degree of seriousness these candidates have in their minds while running for a seat from this over-populated city that can send only 33 members to the nation’s parliament.

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A total of a whopping 664 candidates — more than a quarter of the total nationwide — will be on a ballot that might resemble a book, will be running from the capital. With a mere chance of just 5.124% for every candidate to make it to the nation’s parliament, Wolasi Jirga, one remains at odds with himself as to how serious these candidates are. The fact that most of these candidate come from backgrounds much unknown to the Kabulis themselves or even are not the permanent residents of this city, elevates the doubt to a certain degree of confidence that most are not serious enough but are merely testing their chance. Exacerbating the situation for such candidates is also the fact that certain heavy weights who would otherwise win their seats from their provinces much easily are also contesting the seats in Kabul thus increasing the chance for their ethnic or political friends to reach the parliament in a rather greater number and woo their presence in the parliament. Such heavy weights include Muhammad Younis Qanooni, whose province of birth is Panjshir and who remains to be the Chairman/Speaker of the Wolasi Jirga, Muhammad Muhaqiq, from the northern city of Mazar-e-Sharif and an ethnic Hazara and an influential leader of the Unity Party of Afghanistan. While still popular candidates like Ramazan Bashardost (known as Gandhi of Afghanistan and who stood third in the country’s Presidential elections bagging at least 0.5 Million votes last year), Mir Ahmad Joyenda, Abdur Rab Rasool Sayyaf (a former warlord and Chairman of United Party of Afghansitan) Dr. Kabir Ranjbar, Syed Hussain Anwari (former Warlord) , Abbas Nawyan, Sayed Hussain Alimi Balkhi (former Warlord) strongly block the way for such candidates who are testing their luck. Additionally, women popular and potent candidates who are believed to make it to the parliament either on reserved seats (25% of the total seats is reserved for women) or on the independent seats including Shukria Barikzai (currently an MP, a journalist and a drafter of Afghanistan’s Constitution), Anarkali Hunaryar (A human rights activist, and a member of minority Afghan Sikh Community), Farkhunda Zahra Naderi (Daughter of the influential Ismaili Spiritual cum political leader Sayed Mansoor Naderi, and President of women wing of National Unity Party of Afghanistan) are standing firm against women chance makers, thus shutting the doors of hope for the unknown and chance makers. Yet there are popular candidates being favored and strongly supported by media groups.

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There are many reasons that compel to doubt the seriousness of most of the candidates. Except a few new entries, most have failed to grasp the public attention that’s needed to secure them a seat in the legislative assembly. Their election slogans, for example, are merely poetic that has no relevancy to the realities on the ground. Their manifesto is mostly what they don’t know themselves. The claim to bring security made by some candidates unaware of the role of parliament, for instance, puts those at awe who know that the parliament is basically a legislative institution. The greater majority of the candidates have no political party affiliation and are standing as ‘independents’ which means no serious responsibility on wasting a greater part of a vote the turnout of which it’s expected to be quite low. In addition, a noticeable number of candidates come from backgrounds that have nothing to do with legislation. Finally, the fact that most candidates come from other provinces with least interest for Kabul is yet another way how votes will most probably go waste.

In such a situation where win appears as a mere luck and the proportion to make it to the parliament is so dim, spending thousands of dollars in printing posters, placards, banners, and other sorts of publicity doesn’t really make anyone feel serious about it.

Interestingly for the first time nearly every TV channel has fielded in at least one candidate some even two or three. Journalists haven’t stood in the back foot either. Prominent journalists and political analysts are also to be seen campaigning around. For the first time, though, singers and comedians have also entered the race while school teachers and college and university professors aren’t in the mood to miss the chance either. So the pictures of a mixture of Jihadists, former Taliban officials, Musicians, Journalists, Comedians, Singers, Teachers, Professors, Doctors, Businessmen, Tribal Heads, Political Workers and a bunch of women candidates decorate the ballot papers that would definitely be a book-let for a majority of illiterate population with security matters adding to the tension of the matter.

With a total reaching nearly 2500 candidates for the 249 seats of lower house of the Afghan bicameral parliament known as Wolasi Jirga, chance makers are in full swing to test their luck and get a seat in the most respected yet highly paid Afghan Parliament in a bit to gain wealth and power in the form of a future member of parliament. However, the question of how serious these candidates are is hard to answer or judge.