It was expected that public faith in election as a fundamental democratic principle would gradually grow, and Afghan people will better realize the significance of choosing their own future by ballot, but the ongoing miseries in the country and government’s failure to ensure electoral transparency have badly overshadowed the electoral process. With the presidential election just less than two weeks from now, the electioneering is deadly dull. In addition to the government not implementing enough public awareness programs on the presidential poll, the presidential contenders could not mobilize the voters and hold massive election rallies. In the country’s towns and cities, the situation is by no means as if the nation is going to make a crucial decision about their future in the next two weeks.
One of the reasons for the indolence of election campaign was the US-Taliban peace talks in the Qatari capital, Doha. The popular assumption was that election will be delayed and an interim government formed after the Taliban and Americans reach a peace deal. Now that US President Donald Trump suspended negotiations with the Taliban, and are extremely less likely to resume before the election, the election campaigning needs to be stepped up and reinvigorated. Besides the government, which is responsible for public awareness, the candidates also have to speed up and enliven the campaign.
Election campaign is an opportunity for candidates to present their platforms to the public not only to win voter support for their election bid, but also encourage people to participate in the election. Moreover, they have to press the electoral commissions to use all resources at their disposal to ensure transparency in the election so that the genuine will of people is respected. It will be unrealistic to expect total transparency, but even minor steps towards that end can be considered an achievement. The responsibility of presidential runners is not just to put up their posters in major cities; the people have the right to know about their policies and positions on key national issues, and then decide on the country’s future accordingly.
The non-dynamic electioneering does not bode well for institutionalization of democracy in Afghanistan. Every election should bolster public faith in and spur the willingness of people to participate in the democratic process.