People of Afghanistan
will head to the polls on Saturday to pick their next president, even
as the threat of violence and concerns over electoral fraud could lead
many to stay home.
The vote, the fourth since the Taliban's removal from power by a United States-led coalition in 2001, comes as heavy fighting between the armed group and government forces has led to a spike in the number of civilians killed.
The Taliban
has already threatened to target election rallies and polling stations,
while in recent weeks the US-backed Afghan forces have stepped up air
and ground attacks, raising fears of further casualties.
Presidential Candidates
16 candidates are running in Saturday's election, seeking to secure a five-year term.
The president is both the head of state and the
commander-in-chief of the Afghan armed forces. The president also
appoints the cabinet, which is approved by the lower house of
parliament.
The National Assembly consists of Wolesi Jirga (House of
the People), the 249-seat lower house, and Meshrano Jirga (House of
Elders), the 102-seat upper house.
Wolesi Jirga, the most powerful of the houses, is
responsible for passing and amending legislation. Meshrano Jirga has an
advisory role.
A presidential candidate must secure 50 percent of
the vote to win outright. If, as expected, that threshold is not
crossed, a runoff will be held between the top two contenders - most
likely on November 23.
Top 6 Presidential Candidates
Ashraf Ghani
The incumbent president is seeking a second term, running under the slogan of "Dawlat Saaz" or State Builder.
The ethnic Pashtun politician has picked Amrullah Saleh, a former spy
chief who is ethnic Tajik, the second-largest ethnic group in the
country, as one of his two running mates. The other one is Sarwar
Danish, who is an ethnic Hazara and one of Afghanistan's two vice
presidents.
Abdullah Abdullah
Afghanistan's chief
executive officer, a post created after the 2014 presidential election,
has emerged as Ghani's strongest challenger. He campaigns motto is Stability and Integration.
Abdullah's first running mate is Enayatullah Babur
Farahmand, an ethnic Uzbek and an ally of Vice President Abdul Rashid
Dostum. His second running mate is Asadullah Sadati, a Hazara who is
backed by a faction of the Hazara-dominated Hezb-e Wahdat party.
Ahmad Wali Massoud
The younger brother of former anti-Soviet and anti-Taliban commander Ahmad Shah Massoud, Wali Massoud is ethnic Tajik and has served as the Afghan ambassador to the United Kingdom.
Massoud has chosen Farida Momand, a Pashtun who was a
higher education minister, and Latif Nazari, a Hazara, as his running
mates.
Gulbuddin Hekmatyar
A controversial
former commander accused of war crimes, Hekmatyar registered his
candidacy with Fazl ul-Hadi Wazi and Hafiz ul-Rahman Naqi - both ethnic
Tajiks and members of his political party Hezb-i-Islami - as his running
mates.
Nicknamed the "butcher of Kabul", Hekmatyar is believed to
be responsible for the killing of thousands of civilians in Kabul during
the Afghan civil war in the 1990s.
In 2016, Hekmatyar was pardoned by the Afghan government as
part of a peace deal with Hezb-i-Islami. He returned to Kabul in May
2017 after spending two decades in hiding.
Abdul Latif Pedram
An ethnic Tajik, Pedram is a member of parliament who campaigned for women's rights and federalism.
He is the leader of the National Congress Party of
Afghanistan. His running mates are Ehsanullah Haidari, a Hazara, and
Mohammed Sadeq Wardak, a Pashtun.
Rahmatullah Nabil
The two-time head of
Afghanistan's spy agency, the National Directorate of Security, is a
staunch opponent of the Taliban and a critic of of Ghani's
administration. He is an ethnic Pashtun from Maidan Wardak.
His running mates are Murad Ali Murad, a Hazara former
deputy interior minister, and Massouda Jalal, an ethnic Tajik and former
minister of women's affairs.
The other candidates are
- Nur-ul-Haq Ulumi
- Nurullah Jalili
- Shaida Abdali
- Faramarz Tamana
- Mohammad Shahab Hakimi
- Hakim Tursan
- Mohammad Ibrahim Alekozai
- Ghulam Faruq Nejrabi
- Nur Rahman Liwal,
- Enayatullah Hafiz.
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