Afghanistan: Politics, Elections, and Government Performance
Abstract
The Afghan government's limited writ and widespread official corruption are helping sustain a Taliban insurgency, and have fed international pessimism about efforts to stabilize Afghanistan. At the same time, President Hamid Karzai has, through compromise with faction leaders, been able to confine ethnic disputes to political competition, enabling his government to focus on trying to win over those members of the ethnic Pashtun community that support Taliban and other insurgents. Despite the measurable loss of confidence in Karzai, many Afghans consider their country's difficulties as beyond his control, and he still went into the August 20, 2009, election as the favorite. Turnout was lower than expected, and final but uncertified results, released September 16, 2009, show him at 54.6%. However, there were widespread charges of fraud, many substantiated by the U.N.-backed Electoral Complaints Commission, which investigated the charges. Nearly one-third of Karzai's votes were invalidated and the certified result, released October 21, 2009, placed Karzai just short of the 50%+ total needed to avoid a second-round runoff. The runoff is scheduled for November 7, 2009, but Karzai and Abdullah might try to reduce political tensions and spare the expense and risks of the runoff through a negotiated settlement. Whether such a settlement is constitutional remains unclear.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Oct 23, 2009
- Accession Number
- ADA511533
Entities
People
- Kenneth Katzman
Organizations
- Library of Congress