三级aa视频在线观看-三级国产-三级国产精品一区二区-三级国产三级在线-三级国产在线

  Home>News Center>World
         
 

Afghanistan elections face more delays
(Agencies)
Updated: 2004-07-02 14:12

Afghanistan's national elections — beset by deadly Taliban attacks, feuding warlords and political squabbling — are in jeopardy and may have to be delayed again, a top government official said Thursday.

After weeks of assurances that the vote would take place in September, Farooq Wardak, a senior member of the Afghan election management body, said the group cannot meet a deadline to schedule a vote that month.


An Afghan soldier puts up an election participation poster on a wall near the voter registration office in Baghe-Alam village, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) north of Kabul, Afghanistan June 26, 2004. Much anticipated Afghan elections will be delayed past September because of wrangling among officials and political parties, a senior government official told The Associated Press on Thursday. [AP]
Afghan law says the polling date must be set at least 90 days in advance, making Friday the last chance to announce a Sept. 30 election.

Wardak said the group would not reach a decision on a date until at least next week. "Much more consultation is required," he told The Associated Press as he shuttled between meetings. "I'm hopeful that next week we'll have a decision."

Wardak initially said the government would "stick to" the 90-day requirement for scheduling the election date. But after meeting with top U.N. official Jean Arnault and President Hamid Karzai, he backed off, saying there was "always flexibility."

"If all the preparations are in place, the end of September is still possible," Wardak said.

Karzai has pledged repeatedly to hold elections in September, despite mounting violence and concern that warlords and drug barons will use guns and wealth to cement their power.

Presidential and parliamentary elections were already delayed from June, and October is seen as the last chance to hold a vote before snow closes high mountain passes until spring 2005.

Wardak said the government statistics office had yet to deliver population estimates needed to decide on the distribution of parliamentary seats.

He also said only four of 20 political parties consulted by the election body insist on the parliamentary vote being held this fall.

The votes are supposed to be held simultaneously, but observers say there is a possibility officials could separate them, holding the presidential vote in October and the parliamentary election next year.

Karzai argues that blocking the new Parliament would betray Afghans' hopes, some three years after the ouster of the hard-line Taliban regime and more than two decades after the nation was plunged into a series of ruinous wars.

International officials have been cautioning for months that security is simply not adequate to hold the election.

The United Nations warns that warlords and faction leaders — some in government — must disarm their private armies to keep the vote credible.

A U.N. spokesman acknowledged Thursday that setbacks in disarming private militias have affected deliberations on the date of the election.

"There is indeed a debate," U.N. spokesman Manoel de Almeida e Silva said. "Of course, if the debate goes on, that will have an impact on the election date."

In March, Karzai used a promise to disarm 40,000 irregular fighters by the end of June to win pledges of billions of dollars in international reconstruction aid. But only 9,700 soldiers have given up their guns.

Violence has plagued the run-up to the vote.

Last week, a bomb in the eastern city of Jalalabad killed two election workers and wounded 13 other people. The same city was hit by twin bomb blasts Wednesday that killed four people.

Afghan officials say gunmen searched civilians in the Taliban stronghold of Uruzgan June 25 and killed as many as 17 after finding they were carrying voter registration cards.

Some 60,000 foreign troops and newly trained Afghan security forces are being marshaled to shield polling stations, and Afghans seem keen to sign up.

So far, 5.5 million of the estimated 9.5 million eligible Afghans have registered to vote, including 2 million women, and the total is rising by 125,000 a day.

Andrew Wilder, head of the Afghan Research Evaluation Unit, an independent Kabul-based research group, said Afghans' hopes of democracy could founder if the vote is scarred by violence.

That could be bad news for U.S. President Bush, who is running for re-election in November.

"The majority of press coverage is going to be negative," Wilder said.

But Hazrat Gul, a 45-year-old trucker from Logar, said the country can't wait.

"The election will put Afghanistan back under the rule of law and prevent any more violence," Gul said at a Kabul fruit stall. "In the provinces today, every commander is president. We need neutral people."



 
  Today's Top News     Top World News
 

Officials punished for SARS virus leak

 

   
 

Hong Kong looks to bright future

 

   
 

Saddam scoffs at charges of war crimes

 

   
 

US job losses not trade related -- Barshefsky

 

   
 

Jump in water prices stayed

 

   
 

New vehicle emission standards formulated

 

   
  Bremer says Zarqawi is well organized in Iraq
   
  Powell, DPRK FM meets on nuke issue
   
  Jordan ready to send troops to Iraq if asked
   
  Afghanistan elections face more delays
   
  Earthquake in eastern Turkey kills 18
   
  Saddam appears as Iraqis cheer, curse
   
 
  Go to Another Section  
 
 
  Story Tools  
   
  Related Stories  
   
Death toll in Afghan bomb attacks rises to four
   
Australia reporter says no hostage in Afghanistan
   
US to NATO: Send troops to Afghanistan faster
   
Taliban kill 16 Afghans carrying voter cards
  News Talk  
  Will Saddam Hussein get a fair trial?  
Advertisement
         
主站蜘蛛池模板: 久久久久夜色精品波多野结衣 | 青草香蕉视频 | 任你躁欧美一级在线精品免费 | 久久精品99成人中文字幕880 | 丁香午夜婷婷 | 操亚洲女人 | 中国女人三级在线播放 | 国产精品视频一区二区三区经 | 2022麻豆福利午夜久久 | 欧美精品第1页在线播放 | 国产免费v片在线看 | 欧美午夜在线播放 | 日本三级带日本三级带黄国产 | 国产在线一区二区杨幂 | 美女内部福利视频在线观看 | 伊人久久大香焦 | 在线观看人成午夜影片 | 国产五月色婷婷六月丁香视频 | 高清性色生活片免费观看 | 国产九九视频在线观看 | 国产精品成人免费观看 | 久久中文字幕网站篠田优 | 精品一区二区三区五区六区 | 欧美日批 | 欧美一级视频在线观看欧美 | 国产片免费 | 欧美一区二区三区久久久人妖 | 国内成人精品亚洲日本语音 | 色综合合久久天天综合绕视看 | 国产成人精品无缓存在线播放 | 成人黄色片网站 | 久插视频 | 亚洲呦呦系列视频 | 亚洲女视频 | 一品道一本香蕉视频 | 鲁大师视频在线www观看 | 2021精品国夜夜天天拍拍 | 日本免费不卡视频一区二区三区 | 国产精品美女网站在线看 | 国产伦精品一区二区三区免费 | 国产亚洲视频在线播放大全 |