For Afghanistan to go through the ongoing transition period successfully, it is necessary that democratic values should be followed as much as possible. The people of Afghanistan have already shown that they are capable of having a democratic system, now the leaders have to show that they deserve such a system as well. They can do it through their tolerance, determination and honest efforts.
The people of Afghanistan participated in elections far better than what was expected and now the votes are being counted and within a couple of weeks the result will be announced. However, there are concerns regarding how the candidates would respond to the final result. It is important that they show patience and prove to the world that they are really leading the people who earnestly desire for a democratic society.
The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and certain other civil institutions on Monday, April 14, urged the candidates to show patience as the partial result of the poll has been announced. Calling the results indecisive they suggested that the candidates must trust on Independent Election Commission (IEC) and wait for the final result before going for serious protests.
Based on 10 percent votes (506,843 votes) from 26 of the country’s 34 provinces, the results showed Abdullah Abdullah was in the lead with 41.9 percent or 212,312 votes, followed by Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai with 37.6 percent or 190,561 votes. Zalmai Rassoul trailed far behind with 9.8 percent or 49,821 votes, Abdul Rab Rassoul Sayyaf secured 5.1 percent or 25,679 votes, Qutbuddin Hilal 2.7 percent or 13,536 votes and Muhammad Shafiq Gul Agha Sherzai 2.2 percent or 11,132 votes. Another candidate Daud Sultanzoyi secured 0.5 percent or 2,442 votes while Hidayat Amin Arsala bagged 0.3 percent or 1,360 votes.
Definitely the result is changeable and for now nothing can be said with certainty about the final result but it has to be understood that someone is going to win; everyone cannot be the winner. Continuing the protests intentionally, knowing that it would not change the reality would only welcome disorder and chaos and all the honest efforts of the people of Afghanistan who casted their votes in difficult circumstances would be spoiled.
It is totally correct that the candidates must keep vigilant eyes on the process of vote counting and the role of IEC in handling complains. They can even criticize anything that they consider inappropriate but they have to make sure that everything they do must be in a very democratic and reasonable manner as they have the responsibility of watering the seeds of democracy that the people of Afghanistan have sown.