BOTKHAK, Afghanistan, 17 September 2005 — In the Botkhak desert where they have erected their tents for winter, a group of Afghanistan’s Kuchi nomads is getting to grips with the ins and outs of upcoming parliamentary elections. Listening intently to lessons on voting, they are determined to make their mark in tomorrow’s poll after missing out on October’s landmark presidential election.
“We were not informed, most of us did not have voter registration cards,” says elder Haji Ghamai, 70, explaining why most of Kuchi did not take part in the October vote, a key step in the war-ravaged country’s move toward democracy. “This year everyone (in this group) has registered to vote, even the women,” Ghamai said. Like generations before them, the Kuchi — who are mostly shepherds — spent the summer in the mountains with their sheep. Descending to the plains ahead of winter, this group of 500 families has put up camp about 20 kilometers southeast of the capital Kabul.
Their determination to participate in tomorrow’s parliamentary elections, the first in nearly three decades, stems in part because 10 seats have been set aside for Afghanistan’s 2.4 million Kuchi nomads in the new national assembly. Afghan and UN election organizers have worked hard to reach the mainly ethnic Pashtun Kuchi, traveling to their remote and scattered tramping grounds to educate them about the vote. More than 530,000 now have an election card permitting them to choose from 68 Kuchi candidates. The election commission has set up more than 1,600 polling stations across the country solely for the Kuchi, most of them near their camps.
For those in the most isolated areas, the commission has distributed 2,000 audiotapes and dozens of posters about the vote. Those in areas that are easier to access have been visited by teams of election workers. For the families in Botkhak, this is the fourth time they have been visited by an election commission official. “You know that on Sept. 18 there will be parliamentary elections,” commission Kuchi liaison officer Youssaf Sabir says to the gathered group. “This poster explains that men and women can vote for their candidate. You, the Kuchis, who are illiterate, how can you vote?” he asks.
“Everyone must look closely at the ballot paper, take two minutes to be sure to find the candidate of their choice and make a mark,” replies elder Haji Khan Ghazi, 33. And what is the Parliament? “A second power after the government with a strong structure that can ensure the rights of the people,” Ghazi says. The teacher is happy, ready to leave confident that his efforts have borne fruit. But for these Kuchi, who escaped much of the oppression of the previous hard-line Taleban regime because of their nomadic ways and are considered more liberal than most in Afghanistan, there are still questions.
“Won’t the elderly and ill arrive too late to vote if they have to walk five hours to get to a polling station?” one man asks. “If my brother is ill, can I not vote in his place?” asks another. Far from the men, in her own tent, Bibi Sharo, 42, watches and smiles. “We the women, we don’t really understand the importance of the parliament but we are very happy to take part in the vote,” she says.