Is democracy finally being instituted in Afghanistan? No, says two of the Forum’s Afghan participants, hinting that this fall’s elections did nothing but show how the country is still in need of heavy progress.

Just few months before the Forum’s gathering in Berlin, Afghanistan suffered a lengthy and complicated national election process that has since provoked much debate and controversy all over the world.

Allegations of massive fraud, intimidations and low voter turnout came to characterize the events, and the final result, which eventually granted Hamid Karzai his second consecutive term as the nation’s leader, has been subject to much skepticism.

Orange Magazine seized this unique opportunity to ask a couple of Afghan students about their opinions on this controversial issue, and while positions differed in terms of the consequences of the outcome, both agreed on one point: democracy in Afghanistan still has a long way to go.

26-year old Lida Mohd explains:

- As it has been reported through the media, the elections were marked by fraud. For instance, the ink used on the ballots could be washed off, and then there was the security issue. On more than one occasion, for example, the Taliban cut off the hands of those who participated in the elections.

Alyas Hameed Munib, 21 years old, agrees. The elections were indeed not what many had hoped for, but to him, the major problem was a lack of constitutional and democratic maturity:

- The elections were not decided according to the constitution. A candidate needs 50% to win, but as none of the candidates had that, the elections went into a face-to-face run-off process between Hamid Karzai and his opponent Dr. Abdullah Abdullah. Dr. Abdullah Abdullah however made a list of claims, demanding central figures close to Karzai to resign before he would run. They obviously refused, and as a result, Karzai won by default, without having ever won the majority vote.

According to Afghanistan’s constitution of 2004, in an event like this, an independent election committee must be installed, deciding on the outcome. As this committee was never founded during Karzai’s presidency, there was little the opposition could do:

- The constitution wasn’t interpreted properly. If a candidate withdraws from the run-off elections, there should be someone to interpret the constitution - Lida Mohd says as she continues: - Either the Supreme Court or the Election Commission should do this. But instead, they just announced that Karzai had won.

Alyas Hameed Munib also has difficulties in recognizing the legitimacy of the result:

- Karzai was not elected by the majority of the people. Two of his deputes are accused of war crimes, and his future cabinet will be the same as the one he has now-  he says, and concludes: - Afghanistan is in a process of democratization. It’s a learning process.

This learning process is however not an easy one, as Lida Mohd puts it:

- It's very difficult to have faith in the system. I appreciate people’s courage for voting, but how can you gain stability if you don’t have a proper administration system? Karzai might be the winner of the election, and maybe if he changes some of his policies and attitudes and policies, he might also be the right man to bring us forward. But if we had a real choice, then no.

Both Lida Mohd and Alyas Hameed Munib voted themselves during the Afghan elections, which were finally dropped on the 1st of November 2009, rendering Mr. Karzai winner by default. 

by David Barnwell