SMS Weblogs / Textually / 2004 / 08 / 28

Donkeys and satellite phones pave the way for Afghan elections

This article published in the Tehran Times is an interesting contrast to the upcoming American Presidential elections.

"Organizing the first presidential election in Afghanistan, a country largely without power, roads or literacy, has required a leap of imagination that has encompassed everything from donkeys to satellite phones.

From the collection of millions of voter registration cards to how people will mark the ballot papers -- every little detail must be thought out.

For instance "you are not expecting people to have pens," to mark their ballot papers so millions of pens had to be ordered, Puizana said.

The ballot paper was also carefully thought out. To compensate for illiteracy, the photographs of the 18 candidates are printed at the side of each square to be marked.

The manpower is also enormous, the United Nations will recruit 125,000-130,000 people to man polling stations.

Once voting is complete, the massive logistical task of transporting the ballot papers lies ahead. Papers must be transported to counting stations from the 5,000 nationwide polling sites to ensure the security of the vote count.

"The geography, the topography and the size of the country does not make it easy," explained commission spokesman Aykut Tavsel.

"It is a possibility that some ballots are going to be transported by donkeys where there are no roads, where horses cannot go and where there is no way to carry them by helicopter," he said.

If there is a run-off election in the event of no clear winner in the first round, the second vote could come in the middle of the month-long fasting period of Ramadan.

"People have to walk to the sites and they might be too weak to walk. They focus on the spiritual part of their lives, they might think it is inappropriate," said Tavsel.

The electoral commission is not even looking at the safety of polls although 12 electoral workers have been killed since May, and 33 others injured, leaving that challenge to the Afghan authorities."

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