Parliamentary elections for Afghanistan have been given the go ahead for early spring.

Violence was low-key during the presidential election due to stepped up security. Afghanistan may not have that benefit this time. This time around, we’re going to see an increased degree of violence from radical Islamist groups such as the old Taliban supporters, but also we’re going to see a lot of groups vying for power in the legislature. Whereas the position of presidency is only held by one person, a person generally very popular and well-known in the country, parliament seats can be acquired through all matter of coercion and corruption.

I don’t have any problem with people from groups I disagree with running and winning, but when they intentionally intimidate voters in order to win, democracy doesn’t achieve what it’s supposed to. This election will be much easier for these forces to disrupt.

Afghanistan is facing three major problems that it needs to clamp down on for this election:
1. Violence by Eastern renegade warlords and ex-Tabilan/Al-Quaeda insurgents in the south. Security needs to go up big time, everywhere, to ensure that there is as little voter intimidation as possible.
2. Voting transparency and legitimacy. Remember the ink problem? They can’t let something like that happen, especially when it comes down to such minute numbers in these provinces. A few votes can throw an election to a radical warlord.
3. More international observers, though not necessarily from the UN. The UN is the one that messed up with the ink last time, and there are plenty of NGOs that have performed highly efficiently in other elections around the world. The more international observers, the better they can document everything that goes on so that we know what to do better next time.