Voices: Afghan people big losers in election

KABUL – Afghanistan finally declared a winner Sunday after a roller coaster presidential election that's dragged on for five months. Yes, there's a new president. but who won is far less important than who lost.

The big losers in this election are the Afghan people.

Now that the political wrangling and threats to disrupt the country appear over, it's clear both contenders won. Ashraf Ghani will be president and his formidable opponent, Abdullah Abdullah, will be chief executive. After endless late nights hammering out a power-sharing agreement, they've shaken hands and hugged it out.

But what about the millions of Afghans who, in some cases, risked their lives to vote? They've lost faith in the process. It went on too long and, to many, came to be more about making peace between Ghani and Abdullah than honoring people's choices.

"People performed their responsibility on Election Day," said Ajmal Waisal, of Tirinkot in Oruzgan province last month. "They took risks... But no one respects the people's votes."

More than 7 million people went to the polls on June 14 to choose between Ghani and Abdullah in a runoff following a first election on April 5 among eight candidates that yielded no clear victor.

In some provinces, voting was more than a civic duty; it was an act of defiance against the daily violence that erodes spirits here. It was an affirmation that maybe, just maybe, an Afghan form of democracy could work. Millions of men and women proudly displayed blue inked fingers proving they voted.

Not once, but twice.

"People were proud that they went to the polling centers," said Ali Sher of Khost. "Some even were victims of suicide attacks."

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The Taliban had vowed to forcefully disrupt the electoral process. Security was so tight and fear of violence so intense, most non-government organizations sent their staffs out of the country before the April 5 election. For four days surrounding the June runoff, an NGO where I worked put us in a "lockdown," forbidding anyone to leave the guesthouse. The U.S. Embassy banned travel in or out of the country during that period.

"I am disappointed I voted," Mohammad Asif Zafariof Kabul said. "With all this fraud, why did we bother to go to the polling centers to vote and waste our time staying in long lines until we could vote?"

Voting was considered so risky in some areas that people (especially women) didn't bother chancing it. In Herat province in western Afghanistan, the Taliban sliced off the inked fingers of 11 men to punish them for casting ballots.

Since July, I've managed a citizen journalist website in Kabul, paiwandgah.af/en. On a weekly basis, we reached out to nearly 100 trained citizen journalists around the country. Over time, the euphoria over the election morphed into ennui and frustration. Many reached a point where it no longer mattered who won.

"One thing that I must stress is the people are really fed up with the election process, and they are not happy with the outcome," said Ahmad Siyar Ghafouri, 27, a business owner studying civil engineering in Jalalabad last month.

In July, the Independent Election Commission announced the preliminary results: Ghani garnered 56.4% of votes and Abdullah 43.5%. But Abdullah refused to accept the tally. Both candidates cried fraud.

In mid-July, Secretary of State John Kerry parachuted into Kabul to broker a deal. After Kerry's first visit, the U.S. would spend north of $200 million, working with the United Nations and Afghan election groups, to audit 7 million plus votes. That process foundered for weeks before the audit even began..

To Afghans, the bickering was just another delay upsetting the country's security, its economy and governance.

Both sides promised to accept audit results. But as the audit neared an end, Abdullah's team once again claimed fraud. Finally, on Sunday, the terms of a National Unity Government were spelled out.

Later that day, an official with the Independent Election Commission anonymously revealed to the well-regarded Pajhwok Afghan News that Ghani won 55.27% and Abdullah got 44.73%. The difference before and after the expensive, time-consuming audit is negligible.

But the difference between the April exhilaration and the September dénouement is substantial, leaving many Afghans wondering why they bothered to vote at all.

Shepard, a former NPR ombudsman. lives in Kabul and works with Afghan journalists at Impassion.af.