WASHINGTON, Oct 13: Voters from all ethnic backgrounds supported Afghan President Hamid Karzai although, as expected, his own Pushtun voters overwhelmingly supported him, a survey released on Wednesday reported.
"The leading candidate, Mr. Karzai, received a very strong majority of votes and will be able to claim a powerful mandate from the Afghan people," revealed a survey conducted by the Washington-based International Republican Institute, which is associated with America's ruling Republican Party.
More than 10 million registered voters in Afghanistan surprised international observers by turning out to participate in Saturday's presidential election, the first-ever in Afghan history.
Voters' enthusiasm not only thwarted efforts by the Taliban and Al Qaeda fugitives to disrupt the election, but also forced over a dozen presidential candidates to take back their threat to force a re-election.
A UN panel has, however, been set up to investigate allegations of irregularities, which began to be voiced Saturday. The election count will start later this week. The IRI conducted a one-day, public opinion survey on Afghanistan's election day.
Over 450 Afghan volunteers interviewed more than 17,000 respondents at 177 locations across Afghanistan and in Pakistan where more than 700,000 refugees were also registered as voters.
According to this survey, Mr. Karzai received support from 86 per cent of Pushtun voters. This was not surprising as Mr. Karzai also belongs to this ethnic group, which is the largest in Afghanistan. But unexpectedly 40 per cent of Tajik voters also said they cast a ballot for Mr. Karzai. Tajiks are the second largest ethnic group in Afghanistan and relations between the Tajiks and Pushtuns were strained during the Taliban era because most Taliban leaders were Pushtuns.
Eighty-two per cent of respondents to the IRI survey said the election was free and fair and this finding was consistent throughout election day. As many as 97 per cent said the problems the candidates were complaining about did not affect the outcome of the election.
Besides Pushtuns and Tajiks, Mr. Karzai also received the support of 16 per cent of Uzbek and 21 per cent of Hazara voters. These are the other two large ethnic groups in Afghanistan.
His main rival, former law minister Yunus Qanooni, received the support of 5 per cent of Pushtun voters, 34 per cent Tajik, 9 percent Uzbek and 5 per cent Hazara. Thus, although he is Tajik, Mr. Qanooni received fewer votes from his own ethnic group than Mr. Karzai.
Eight per cent of all women interviewed by the surveyors said they had voted for Masood Jalal, the only woman to contest the presidential election. The surveyors found a difference of 47 per cent between Mr. Karzai and Mr. Qanooni. Only 5 per cent said they had voted for the third-place candidate.
Each of the 12 remaining candidates received one per cent or fewer votes. About 57 per cent of respondents said disarming local warlords should be the No. 1 priority of the new government.
Reconstruction and the development of the economy drew 16 percent and 11 per cent of support respectively. As many as 89 percent of the respondents said their current situation is improving while 84 per cent said that life has improved since the fall of the Taliban.
An overwhelming majority of respondents - 92 per cent - said that life would be better one year after the election. About 22 per cent respondents were women. Among the large ethnic groups, the Uzbeks appeared the least satisfied with the election and many said they believe the election was not free and fair.
David Williams and Associates, a US-based opinion research firm that specializes in international research projects, designed the methodology and oversaw the data collection process. An Afghan research network managed the fieldwork.
Since there were neither extensive nation-wide observers on election day, nor a parallel vote tally, this election day poll was conducted in order to provide confidence in the election process and an eventual check on the outcome, the surveyors said.