IRI Delegation Observes Afghanistan's First Democratic Presidential Election

On Saturday, October 9, Afghan citizens turned a new page in their country's history by holding democratic presidential elections for the first time. Polls remained busy well into the evening, as high voter turnout forced approximately 5,000 polling stations around the country to remain open two hours longer than planned. The International Republican Institute (IRI), which fielded an international monitoring team in support of a democratic election process, assessed Saturday's election as a credible step forward in the country's march to democracy.

"It was particularly heartening to see women who were oppressed for years by the Taliban taking an active role in voting," IRI co-delegation head and former Assistant Secretary of State for Inter-American Affairs Bernard Aronson said."

Fears of widespread election-day violence by Taliban remnants did not materialize. Polling centers remained busy well into the evening, producing estimates of high voter participation, including by women. While a number of opposition candidates are alleging fraud, voting took place in an environment that was on the whole orderly, and free from intimidation.

"The long lines at ballot stations were testimony that Afghans were determined to vote," IRI delegation leader Ambassador Richard Williamson said. "They are the clear winners in this process."

In addition to former Assistant Secretary Aronson and Ambassador Williamson, the thirteen person delegation includes Tom Melia, Director of Research at the Institute for the Study of Diplomacy and former Vice President of the National Democratic Institute; Paul Behrends, a partner at the Alexander Strategy Group and former senior U.S. House of Representatives staff member, and Dan Twining, a Fulbright scholar at Oxford who was until recently Senator John McCain's foreign policy advisor. Judy Van Rest, IRI's Executive Vice President, led IRI's supporting staff.

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