It is early morning and the ground near our house is full of activities. Every Friday, this big ground could have been noticed bustling with boys playing football and cricket but on Saturday, there are lines of people waiting to enter the polling station. It is slightly cloudy and light shower is also disturbing the people but they seem to be indifferent to this.
Due to the continuous rain of last few days, the rain water has made some pools on different parts of the ground and there is mud everywhere but even then, large numbers of people are coming to the station. Though our traditions and culture don’t encourage that ladies should come out of the houses but people are bringing the female members of their families as well. Inside the polling station, there is a separate but large queue of female voters who are waiting for their turn. As our tradition, the ladies are given preference and thus they can cast their votes far easier than the men waiting in long lines.
An old man just stepped out of the car. He cannot walk on his own so he is supported by his sons. He has his walking stick and due to mud and slippery ground, his sons are very careful about him. People generously allow him to directly go inside the station without waiting in the line. Similarly, an old lady comes to cast her vote. She is the patient of heart and high blood pressure and it is very difficult for her to walk. But she is very enthusiastic and says to the reporters, ‘I am not here for myself as I am not sure about my life but I am here to cast my vote for my grandchildren who would be able to live in a better place with this vote.’
Media has emerged as a very strong element of democratic progress in these elections. People are very conscious about their votes. I have heard this sentence being uttered by a large number of people, ‘Never say that my single vote would make no difference. No one has more than one vote but this single vote would play its role in deciding upon the fate of the country.’ Till midday, there has not been any report of any major terror attack in any part of the country and those who were hesitant to come out of their houses because of security fears have at last decided to go to the polling stations to express their opinion. The role played by media has made these polls historic.
The debates between the presidential candidates on the national television and some other private television channels have greatly been appreciated both inside and outside the country. This mature practice of election campaigning is very unique of its kind and is not present even in some of the mature democracies of the world. For a country with the democratic history of only a decade, this comparison of candidates is really impressive.
Religious scholars, tribal elders, political leaders and all the members of society had their chance to motivate the people for voting. This media campaign of the Independent Election Commission, the presidential candidates and members of civil society was too useful in making the people aware of their responsibility to cast their vote.
Taliban had already boycotted these polls and had threatened to carry out deadly attacks on voters on the day of election. They had shown their intention by carrying out a series of attacks days ahead of polls in Kabul and other parts of the country. This resulted in the increased security measures by our security forces and hundreds and thousands of security forces were deployed in all parts of the country to safeguard the lives of voters and election teams. There were reports of some minor attacks in some parts of the country but they are taken as ‘acceptable’ and they failed to spoil the democratic transition of government. The credit goes to our security forces that performed their duties nicely and professionally. According to a media report, Taliban had offered 5 dollars for all those who would hand over their cards to Taliban and do not cast their votes. This shows the weakness of Taliban and their failure in barring the public from going to the polling stations.
After the complaints in last elections about the poor quality of ink, special arrangements were made on this occasion. This time, two kinds of inks were used for the purpose; one was typical black and another was an invisible one that becomes visible only under a special light. The efforts of election commission to distribute ballot boxes and other necessary objects are also worth-praising. There were definitely some complaints about the unavailability of related documents in some remote areas of the country but they are almost negligible and may not affect the overall result of the elections.
It would be early to give positive or negative statements about the transparency of these elections and a clear picture would come after the arrival of reports of national and international observers but generally, there have been positive reports in the media and there has not been any report of mass rigging. However, it is a fact that poll rigging in Afghanistan starts after the voting which caused great hue and cry in the last elections.
In short, Saturday was a historic day when the spirit and enthusiasm of people overcame the fear and uncertainty. It is a very crucial step towards the progress of democracy and maturity of all the democratic organs needed for the proper functioning of a democratic government. Democracy can be compared to a machine which gets better with the passage of time. Different events and incidents in the history of a nation provide guidelines for making positive changes for the effective and increased functioning of this machine. It is the reason why, it is believed that a bad democracy is far better than the complete absence of democracy. Because democratic organs start performing better with the passage of time and for this reason, they need to be given more and more time to attain their maturity. Once democracy is derailed, it requires many efforts to bring it back on track and when this democracy is resumed, all its organs start from zero and the whole process is restarted.
On Saturday, people performed their duty by casting their votes in the most uncertain circumstances of the history. Now it becomes the duty of concerned authorities to honor the opinion of people and make sure the transfer of power to those who were elected by the people. After this, we would be to enjoy the true benefits of democracy.
Saturday was a historic day. This single day silenced all those who tried to snatch the contentment of people by expressing doubts about the future of country and the nation. There were fears and a series of suicide and bomb attacks days before the elections had already done its work of terrorizing voters but it was not enough. There was such a great wave of enthusiasm that large number of people came out of their houses and put their share in the future of the country.