The Free Lunch Campaign Trail
Money talks as presidential roadshow comes to Balkh province.
The Free Lunch Campaign Trail
Money talks as presidential roadshow comes to Balkh province.
Juma Khan never thought of himself as a political activist. That changed one day when the 50-year-old farmer was trying to hitch a ride from his native district of Daulatabad into the provincial capital, Mazar-e-Sharif.
“I saw a vehicle covered in pictures of some candidate,” he said, laughing. “I asked them to take me into town, but they replied that I would have to join their campaign team for the day. They did say they would give me lunch.”
Happy with the deal, Juma Khan took the ride, and spent the morning attending campaign rallies.
“I had to listen to a lot of speeches, and many, many promises,” he recalled. “I shouted ‘long live’ someone and ‘down with’ somebody else. Then they took me to their office and gave me a very good meal. After that I ran away.”
Juma Khan never even knew the name of the candidate he was shouting for. “He was a strong man with a small beard,” was the best he could do. Suddenly, he spotted a poster of Hedayat Amin Arsala, one of the more obscure contenders.
“That’s him!” he said.
Stories like Juma Khan’s are quite common as Afghanistan gears up for the August 20 election, when the appearance of momentum is as important as actual support. The original field of 41 presidential hopefuls has dropped to 37, but only the top four – President Hamed Karzai, Abdullah Abdullah, Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai and Ramazan Bashar Dost – have made any real impact.
The remaining contenders have no expectation that they will ever sit in the presidential palace, but a strong showing could put them in an enviable position over the next few days. It is expected that as many as 30 of the current candidates will drop out by polling day, pledging their support to one of the front runners. Many hope to trade their putative voters for a good job - a minor ministry, a governorship, or the administration of a particularly lucrative police district, for example.
The electorate, aside from their appreciation of the free lunches, seems a bit bewildered by the campaign.
“There are rallies almost every day in support of one candidate or another,” said Abdul Malik, 25, a resident of Mazar-e-Sharif. “If Abdullah has a rally one day, Karzai will have one twice as big the next.”
But the events are more show than substance, he added.
“The campaigners are asking people to vote for their candidate. But none of them has a real programme for solving the country’s problems. All they do is criticise or praise the current government, depending on which side they are on.”
In any case, the real decisions will be made by local leaders who base their choice on their own criteria.
“The voters do not consider personality, qualifications or character,” said Abdul Wakil Matin, a tribal leader In Balkh province. “Instead, they vote according to tribal, linguistic, regional and factional issues. In fact, the people’s votes are at the disposal of a few individuals who call themselves tribal leaders. They have taken away the people’s decision. They buy or sell the people’s votes like merchandise.”
The media in Balkh have also jumped into the fray, trading their hold on the public’s attention for cold hard cash, say many journalists.
“Television does not reflect reality,” said Mohammad Bashar Ansari, a reporter with Ariana TV, a nominally independent station. “If a reporter is paid by a candidate he will say that a rally attracted 1,000 people even if there were only 100.”
The price varies, he added, but many journalists are willing to be “bought” for relatively modest sums.
“A candidate can give a reporter 100 or 200 US dollars to get himself covered on television,” said Ansari.
Compared to the 600 dollars per minute that major networks such as Tolo or Ariana charge for advertising, say journalists, it’s a bargain.
Over the past few years, media in Afghanistan has become closely integrated into the political process in a way that many observers find unsettling. Major political figures have launched their own television stations; former president Burhanuddin Rabbani owns Noor TV, while current vice president Karim Khalili recently opened his own station, Negah. General Abdul Rashid Dostum commands Aina television, while senator and Karzai supporter Hajji Mohammad Mohaqeq is behind another station, Farda.
Independent television does exist – Tolo TV being the foremost example – but the trend is more and more towards political backers.
“Media participate in campaign rallies only if they belong to the political group behind the event, or if they are from the same tribe, or if they are paid,” said Ansari. “Candidates who do not have money get almost no coverage of their rallies.”
With all of the machinations, many voters are losing confidence in the process. They fear that fraud, foreign interference, and the dictates of local leaders will play more of a role than the people’s choice. And in the end, say many, there will be little real change for Afghanistan.
“Karzai can change the results however he wants,” said Jawed Bakhtar, a student in Balkh University. “Given his local and international fame, nobody will be able to take his position from him.”
Abdul Latif Sahak is an IWPR-trained reporter in Mazar-e-Sharif
