Afghan Elections

As Mexicans who were born in the 90s, we regard democracy as our unchangeable type of government. I even dare say that the idea of eliminating democracy in Mexico is unconceivable for so many of us--if not all. That's why it is for us so weird to read about a nation as old as Afghanistan who's only held democratic elections twice (one in 2001 and the other one in 2009) in its whole time as a sovereign country.
Despite this being a highly anticipated event, the Afghan elections brought disappointment and fear to a great amount of its population. This was due to a lack of security from Taliban attacks, as well as rightful accusations about fraud.

Apparently, members of the well-known political and religious organisation, Taliban, were known to be threatening citizens into voting for a specific candidate or not voting at all. Besides, the current president of Afghanistan who is rerunning for its post has been repeatedly accused of conducting fraud himself. According to Mr Abdullah--an opposite--, thousands of violations were most likely held during the Election Day and throughout the counting process.
Citizens selling and buying votes, under-age voting, and more than one vote per person, are just few of the actions that led to such a ‘deceiving’ image in the preliminary results.
The final results won't be released but for several more weeks. I just hope that democracy and transparency prevails, as difficult as it may sound.
Afghan elections are an interesting topic that I furtherly discussed during our team's last week project, and it is worth keeping track of. For all those interested, I include a link to BBC.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8216809.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8221709.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/south_asia/2009/if_i_were_president/default.stm

*In picture: Abdullah Abdullah is the only one of the main candidates who is not contesting as an independent candidate. He is representing the main United National Front opposition alliance.