KABUL, Nov 12: The much-delayed result of Afghanistan’s first democratic parliamentary vote in more than three decades was finalized on Saturday and hailed as a step towards peace after years of war and fundamentalist rule.
The result, settled after a flood of allegations of fraud, confirmed expectations of a parliament dominated by warlords responsible for years of bloodshed with a few members of the ousted Taliban regime also present.
It was nonetheless welcomed as a milestone in a transition to democracy launched after five years of harsh Taliban rule was ended by a US-led invasion.
“It is an historic moment for Afghans,” presidential spokesman Karim Rahimi told AFP.
“We expect the Afghan people to accept this as a good opportunity to move towards democracy and peace and stability in Afghanistan,” he said.
The last hold-up to the result of the September 18 vote, initially due in the final week of October, was a complaint of cheating in the ballot-count in the key southern province of Kandahar that was settled on Saturday.
An investigation had resulted in a change to the province’s representatives to the lower house of parliament, called the Wolesi Jirga, the Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB), which organised the poll.
“We are happy the elections for the provincial councils and Wolesi Jirga are over, even though there were some minor problems,” JEMB spokesman Sultan Baheen told AFP. “This is a victory for the Afghan people.”
Afghanistan adopted an internationally supported path towards democracy that included the first ever presidential elections in October last year.—AFP
