Afghan elections marred by violence, fraud
Afghan voters went to the polls this weekend to cast their ballot in parliamentary elections. More than 2,500 candidates ran for 249 seats. According to reports from Afghanistan, many candidates tried to buy the election by paying voters for their ballots and busing crowds of people into polling stations. Meanwhile, election day quickly turned violent in some locations, with dozens of rocket attacks and violence at polling stations. The New York Times reported that more than 12 people were killed in election-related violence. Due to security concerns, some polling stations remained closed or had very little voter turnout.
With this climate of fear and fraud, how can we measure the level of success from this weekend’s elections? To help answer that, we talk with Glenn Cowan, chief of mission for Democracy International. We also talk with Christine Fair, a professor at Georgetown University’s Security Studies Program.
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