Word: voting
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Force personnel were divided over the general's jape. "What an idiot," one airman fumed on an unofficial Air Force website. "I vote that we should pack our [stuff] and come home. Let the Army march to where they need to go, use artillery for close air support, and medevac on Fed Ex." A colleague agreed: "As the Big Guy he should be pulling us together, not widening the abyss." But one contributor claiming to be a more senior officer dissented. "Believe me, if the military is dumb enough to make me a General, you can bet your...
...says she was awoken by the explosion of rocket propelled grenades at the edge of her neighborhood on election day. It was one of at least nine rockets that targeted polling stations around the city. She waited several hours troubled by second thoughts before she finally setting out to vote, her four-year-old daughter in tow. "I was very afraid. But I voted because it's my right, just like men do," she says. "Our democracy is young and we must be brave...
...north was not without militant attacks. Raging gun-battles in Baghlan province resulted in the deaths of at least 21 militants and forced polling stations to close. Overall, however, the south fared worse. Just one voting station opened in southern Helmand province, where Taliban calls for a boycott held sway. In Kandahar, a "night letter" campaign ahead of the vote forewarned residents that their fingers would be cut off if they dared to participate. Many still braved the threat, but observers suggested that voter turnout there was perhaps as much as 40% lower than 2004 elections - a potential setback...
...universal theme was the low turnout by women. At one station in Kabul, no women had voted, and at another, just dozens turned up, compared with hundreds of men. This raises alarm bells. Women registered to vote in higher numbers than men this year, which many observers had found hard to believe in a traditional society like Afghanistan. Many suspect that men falsely registered fictitious wives and daughters in order to collect extra voting cards that could in turn be used to stuff ballot boxes. Few of the women's stations were monitored, which raises further questions. "I think people...
...Candace Rondeaux, Afghanistan analyst for the International Crisis Group, says the insecurity and questions about the value of the vote "given the potential for fraud has kept a number of voters from the polls." A low turnout will do "little to enhance the sense that all Afghans are included in the democratic process," Rondeaux says. "It also raises the possible threat that the incumbent's main rivals will question the results and perhaps encourage a violent response, leaving open a window for the Taliban to fully disrupt Afghanistan's progress." (Watch a video on the Afghanistan election...