Afghan Presidential Candidate Ashraf Ghani Garners Strong Support in the North Some Voters Laud Choice of Running Mate Larger By ROB TAYLOR CONNECT Updated April 6, 2014 2:38 p.m. ET MAZAR-E-SHARIF, Afghanistan—Afghan presidential candidate Ashraf Ghanis choice of Uzbek warlord Abdul Rashid Dostum as his running mate is looking increasingly like a masterstroke, with Mr. Ghanis supporters confident of a strong showing in the countrys north as voting-fraud accusations mount. With counting continuing amid claims of ballot stuffing and intimidation, Mr. Ghanis deputy campaign manager, Abdul Momin Makret, said his team was certain of making it into the runoff among the two top vote-getters. About 80% of polling stations in northern Afghanistans biggest province of Balkh put Mr. Ghani in either first or second place, he said. The minor frauds that have occurred are not going to change our destiny. We are winning, Mr. Makret said at his campaign office on Sunday, where the mood was euphoric. Balkh is the stronghold of a rival candidate, former foreign minister Abdullah Abdullah, who is backed by the provincial governor. Mr. Ghani is an ethnic Pashtun from eastern Afghanistan, and the countrys north isnt his traditional power base. In the nearby northern province of Jowzjan, a predominantly Uzbek area that is Mr. Dostums home, Mr. Ghani polled about 80% of the votes, said Amanullah Faryabi, the provinces chief electoral officer. People were keen to vote for Mr. Dostum because he is an influential man and is loved by many people in these areas, he said. In both northern provinces, former foreign minister Zalmai Rassoul, seen as the preferred candidate of President Hamid Karzai, was a distant third, according to election officials and partial results posted outside polling centers. Mr. Rassouls campaigners alleged widespread ballot-stuffing against their candidate. There are many instances of fraud, in the districts, in the villages. Local police commanders have been involved, said Mr. Rassouls campaign manager in the Balkh province, Tor Abbas Stanekzai. Mr. Ghani, a U.S.-educated technocrat, surprised Afghans and foreign donors alike when he picked Mr. Dostum as one of his vice presidential running mates. Human-rights groups have accused Mr. Dostum, who still controls a large and well-armed private militia, of human rights abuses during the countrys civil war that followed the Soviet withdrawal, as well as of massacring Taliban prisoners in 2001. In October, as he joined Mr. Ghanis ticket, Mr. Dostum apologized to all who have suffered on both sides of the wars. On Sunday, as trucks loaded with ballot boxes continued to arrive in Jowzjans capital city of Sheberghan from restive districts, Mr. Faryabi, the electoral officer, said he had received hundreds of complaints. Most of them, he said, accused supporters of Mr. Dostum and Mr. Ghani of intimidating would-be voters. In two restive districts, ballots had been quarantined over suspicions they had been stuffed with fraudulent ballots. Even though Taliban threats had kept most people away, including observers, the boxes had arrived full at the election commissions provincial headquarters. Mr. Abdullahs spokesman in Jowzjan, Noorullah Nayab, said his team accepted it had lost in that province. The fraud was minor. We received around 30% to 35% of the votes, we believe. We think Mr. Ghani got 60%-65%, Mr. Nayab said. In the Balkh capital city of Mazar-e-Sharif, Mr. Abdullah appeared to have outperformed Mr. Ghani by two votes to one, although in mostly Pashtun rural districts, the advantage ran mostly the other way. In the Dehrazi School voting center outside the capital, Mr. Ghani received 807 votes to Mr. Abdullahs 235. Mr. Rassoul garnered only 35 ballots. Mr. Makret, the Ghani campaigner in Balkh, said the turnout support had been much stronger than Mr. Ghanis team expected. He said the campaign now had to be careful of stoking violence or some other backlash from disgruntled opponents. We are patient. Our rivals are watching us and ready to unleash havoc to disrupt the result, he said, underscoring fears of local officials and donors alike that losing candidates could resort to violence. online.wsj/news/articles/SB10001424052702304819004579485542790315768?mg=reno64-wsj&url=http%3A%2F%2Fonline.wsj%2Farticle%2FSB10001424052702304819004579485542790315768.html
Posted on: Sun, 06 Apr 2014 20:48:41 +0000
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