After weeks of secret negotiations among major political parties, a new political alliance under the name of “Election Coalition” emerged on Thursday in a ceremony in Kabul. The new political alliance is comprised of many major opposition political parties and alliances and some former pro-government parties. The leaders of the new political alliance announced they will nominate a single candidate to contest in the forthcoming presidential elections, and that one of their main political agenda was decentralization of the government system in Afghanistan. Emergence of the so-called grand election coalition was expected in recent months as the politicians have been dickering and negotiating their stance, role and interests in the grand coalition for the future presidential elections.

However, what was not expected by many was the current composition of the Election Coalition. Since almost all of the groups within the new coalition have been members of the Cooperation Council of Political Parties and Coalitions of Afghanistan (CCPPCA) and many government officials or politicians close to the government initially participated in the recent coalition-building gatherings, it was expected that the coalition would be far broader than what finally came out to the public in the official ceremony. Assurances by the new coalition leaders that the door would remain open for anyone interested to join the alliance do not fully respond to concerns regarding the need for a broader coalition by the opposition or pro-government parties. Still, the opportunity exists to form a broader coalition and gather more political figures that could represent different parts of the country under the new umbrella alliance.

There are concerns of polarizing politics based on ethnic lines in the country. Previously, it was expected that the opposition parties would come up with a new election plan as part of the Cooperation Council of Political Parties and Coalitions, along with other members of the CCPPCA. And recently, even broader discussions were going on to form a more inclusive front that includes former and current government officials too. But only in recent days, it emerged that the efforts to gather more figures and political parties under the new alliance has failed. As the alliance has announced its emergence in the politics of Afghanistan, it is now up to the leaders of the coalition to do more to make the coalition even more inclusive through negotiations with many other prominent figures and avoid the notion of political polarization based on ethnic lines in the country.

Emergence of the new coalition was followed by contrasting feedbacks from the Afghan society. It absolutely came as a surprise to Karzai’s close circles of power to see many of their would-be allies joining the new coalition. Perhaps, it was also the reason behind the hasty moves by the leaders of the newly-formed coalition for making agreements and early announcement of the election alliance. Reportedly, before the opposition manages to agree for making a new coalition, President Karzai quickly moved to garner support for Abdul Rasoul Rasoul Sayyaf, a former Mujahedin leader, who was tapped as Karzai-backed candidate for president. But things changed quickly after Karzai could not garner support from his close allies for Sayyaf’s candidacy.

Despite the concerns, the move to form a broad election coalition is a crucial step forward in the political transition in the country. The new coalition-making is the most important political development that is going to play a key role in shaping the prospect of the elections, due to be held next spring. Forming an election alliance that includes many of the prominent opposition political figures and the affiliated political parties is seen as a robust move by the opposition parties to the President Karzai’s government ahead of the elections that is going to elect Karzai’s successor. As the political coalitions makings were unfolding since recently, both the government-backed front and the opposition parties, which dominated the CCPPCA, have been trying to expand the base of support for their future candidate by making new alliances.

Since the coalition comprises many major parties and coalitions that have been in opposition to the government in last five years, it is expected that it would remain a powerful player in the next year election with the potential ability to succeed their election candidate. A fact about almost all coalition-makings in Afghanistan is that they are based on short-term political adjustments rather than long-term strategic goals and the possibility for all the alliances remains that they may split and members shift positions in the last minute of political deals. The new election coalition is no exception. However, it is expected that the newly-formed alliance would last longer since most of the members have been staunch oppositions to the government in recent years and, in the meantime, have a clear political agenda centered at decentralizing the government system.

In general, building stable collations in the ongoing political process and for the forthcoming presidential elections is undeniably in interests of the country as more stable and inclusive coalition-makings moderates the political trends and the players. Hopefully, makings major coalitions would help forging robust parties in the election process that would help in determining and concrete victory for the winner of the election and avoid loss of votes as happened in previous elections. The new coalition is characterized with its emphasis on decentralization of the government system in order to make it more representative to all the people of Afghanistan, as well as making it more flexible that could smoothly adjust itself to the needs of the multi-ethnic society in Afghanistan.

Given the last decade shortcomings from the government and the lost opportunities, the coalition would quickly position itself in investing on failures of the government and the widespread corruption in the country. Another fact about the newly formed opposition coalition is that it is enjoying a large base of support across the country, which puts it in the upper hand while contesting other possible contestants of the elections. A major political goal of the alliance is to make the government more representative for the people through decentralization of the system. Given the incapability of the deeply-centralized government in the country during past twelve years, the proposal of a more decentralized system may be the best solution in the long run for a more responsive and reprehensive government system in Afghanistan.