Though there are many processes that are necessary for the political development in Afghanistan, upcoming parliamentary election, at the moment, is considered the top priority matter. What will be the nature of the election and how it is going to be conducted will to a large extent decide the political scenario in post-2015 Afghanistan.
It is a crystal clear fact that Afghan political system needs extra care, concentration and honest efforts for its improvement. So, the Afghan authorities, especially the Afghan President himself must strive to strengthen the pillars of democracy in the country and make all the possible efforts to hold a historical and exemplary election in 2014. On the other hand, Western allies must put pressure and provide assistant so that the upcoming parliamentary election must be held as soon as possible and must not have the drawbacks that were present in last Presidential elections. It must be made sure that improvements are brought in the polling systems that can help the people of Afghanistan participate without complications in the elections and have their true representatives in parliament.
In addition efforts should be carried out to introduce improvements electoral reform and voter registrations. Government must also motivate and facilitate people thoroughly so that maximum number of people participates in elections and the turn out should be satisfactory. Independent Election Commission (IEC) of Afghanistan must also make sure that it carries out the necessary measures before the election is conducted.
It is time to know that one of the basic ways the people can participate in the affairs of the state is through elections. Well-established and developed election systems can provide opportunities to all the members of the society to cast their votes and have their say in the making of the government. However, in Afghanistan this basic institution of democracy has not been able to function appropriately. The last presidential and parliamentary elections were vehemently dominated by corruption and insecurity.
Most of the people because of the security concerns and many other problems could not even cast their votes. Moreover, the election fraud and misuse of power to influence voters also played dominant role in forming the government not fully favored by the people.
The proper and well-developed election process can play an important role in creating accountable government. A political party or a politician in order to be elected by the votes of the people tries to perform properly so that it gets chance of remaining in authority for a longer period of time. If the political parties and the contestants in the elections come to know that they can win the election even without the consent of the people, through illegal ways, they will never remain accountable to the people and would not care much about the public opinion. Afghan political scenario, at the moment, is facing almost a similar sort of situation.
A thorough analysis of Afghanistan’s political scenario will depict that currently the political processes are also being kept aloof of accountability along with the institutions. The current efforts for the reconciliation and reintegration processes are very much non-participatory and non-transparent. As the major stakeholders are being kept away from the processes, a sort of ambiguity and distrust is being generated within different circles and the people of Afghanistan. Moreover, there is a disadvantage of such an approach as well – it is likely to result in improper and incomplete outcomes of the processes, which will further generate controversies.
Afghan authorities have in fact kept on striving to limit the power and authority to themselves and, on certain occasions, have used the same irresponsibly. The need of time is to make the political institutions and processes accountable to the people through proper democratization of the political structure.
On the other hand, Security of the next year presidential and provincial councils’ elections seems to be a tough challenge for Afghanistan National Security Forces (ANSF) that took over security responsibility of most parts of the country
it is expected that Taliban and other groups of insurgents will increase their activities to bar the people from participating in the election process. In 2009 elections, incidents where the Taliban chopped off voters’ fingers were reported which caused waves of fear among the people. It is feared that the same or even worse cases of violence may repeat. In order to counter that, there is a pressing need for pre-planning and coordination among security forces in Afghanistan. The NATO troops will have to support the Afghan forces to let people vote in a peaceful environment.
Moreover, Afghan government needs to address the concerns regarding good governance and growing corruption. It has to make sure that the government is able to serve the people of Afghanistan and make the country a better place for them to live. It also needs to ensure that the ruling elite in the country does not utilize all the support and assistance to fulfill its own self-centered incentives. Otherwise, the expectations of peace and tranquility in the country and the region will be nothing more than woolgathering.