Afghan women take special joy in vote
4 years after Taliban, 27 percent of assembly is reserved for them

September 19, 2005 - (Boston Globe) The sun had hardly risen yesterday over the women's polling center, and a crowd in blue burkas already waited at the door.

Lima Nasser, an 18-year-old student, did a little dance as she slipped her ballot into the plastic container provided by the United Nations.

''I'm really excited about this election," she said, explaining that she had cast the first vote of her life for a neighbor she believes will bring industries, roads, and housing for the people of this city in eastern Afghanistan.

Millions of Afghans turned out yesterday to vote for the lower house of their national assembly, reflecting a mood of optimism four years after a US-led alliance toppled the religious rule of the Taliban. No major incidents of violence were reported, despite two dozen attacks across the southeast that killed at least 14 people, including a French soldier.

A handful of polling stations closed temporarily and 16 did not open at all, mostly due to security concerns, Peter Erben, chief electoral officer of the Afghan-UN Joint Electoral Management Body, told the Associated Press.

The vote, which cost the international community $150 million, marked the first direct election of the national assembly. It also marked the first time seats have been reserved for women. After the votes are counted and the results are announced in early October, Afghanistan will have a national assembly that is 27 percent women, higher than the US Congress and legislatures in much of the industrialized world.

Here in Jalalabad, 179 candidates vied for 14 seats, four of which are set aside for women.

Most people in Jalalabad seemed swept up in the enthusiasm of the campaigns, certain that their candidate would bring local accountability and the development that the city desperately needs. A particularly festive mood seemed to envelope the polling stations that were prepared for women. In keeping with local traditions, men and women often separate in public life.

At the female polling station set up at the Darull-Malemeen school, women waited patiently to be frisked for weapons. Then they strode inside and lifted their burkas over their heads, revealing colorful shawls, wide smiles, and strong political opinions.

''We went through lots of intolerable eras and we want a person who can cure the old wounds and meet our requirements," said Dr. Shamsi Noorzi, 38, a gynecologist from a local hospital who came early in the morning to vote. ''In past times, women's rights were disregarded, and now we have got our rights. Now we'll get some seats in parliament, and after five years, we'll ask for more."

Elderly women with gold nose rings lifted their burkas to kiss one another on both cheeks.

Outside on the porch, an army officer sent to protect the voting women stuck a branch of purple flowers in the barrel of his gun.

As the day wore on, an all-male Pakistani television crew caused a commotion by setting up its cameras outside the women's voting area.

Some women talked to the cameras. Others slipped their burkas back on and floated away.

''I don't want them to film," grumbled an Afghan army commander with a salt-and-pepper beard. ''But what can I do? This is democracy."

Women have faced formidable obstacles in this race, according to a recently released Human Rights Watch report regarding the safety of female candidates in Afghanistan. Some women in conservative areas had to campaign under burka, prompting questions about whether voters would recognize their pictures on the ballot, which displayed candidates' faces and logos to assist the many voters who are illiterate.

Safia Seddiqi, a popular female candidate, was recently attacked in her campaign convoy by gunmen but escaped unharmed, according to a campaign spokesman.

Even Zakia Arsala, a candidate from a powerful clan that is the Afghan equivalent of the Kennedys, had to persuade a group of local religious leaders to remove the fatwa they had issued against voting for women, according to her son, Abdullah Arsala.

''Mullahs came and said, 'If you vote for a woman, it's against Islamic law,' " he said.

''But I had worked too hard for those votes," he said, describing how he built a well in a camp for thousands of displaced people and helped them get their school registered.

He said the family invited the mullahs for a debate, and ultimately they reversed their edict.

Women have struggled to raise enough money for their campaigns, which feature billboards and glossy postcards. Candidates must also pay for bowls of rice and meat for supporters at rallies, and placate tribal elders who ask for a cow or sheep in return for their village's support.

Despite these obstacles, some female candidates have become popular with male voters. At one polling station, Najeeba Arif, 40, a vocational teacher, said it was her own husband who persuaded her to vote for Seddiqi.

As the day drew to a close and the sun dipped behind the mountains, chaos erupted at the polling station at Char-Bagh High School, about a 10-minute drive west of the city.

The male voting station had three rooms for voting but the female station had only one. Election workers were forced to stay open hours longer as hundreds of women waited to cast their ballots.

Inside, a suffocating crush of mostly illiterate rural women cast aside the cardboard booths set up for privacy and huddled together trying to figure out how to mark their ballots. Some women left in frustration, ballots unmarked, while others sifted carefully through the newspaper-like pages.

But every woman was determined to enter the voting room. Those who had not yet voted formed a sweaty, angry group around the lone army officer outside the door. Some demanded to be allowed to climb into the voting room through the window.

Indeed, hours earlier, Mohammad Ashraf, an election worker, had propped a ladder outside the window so women could leave the room without fighting against the crowd at the door. Now he leaned a disheveled head out the window, trying to breathe fresh air.

''I have never been in such trouble in all my life," Ashraf said. ''The women came more than we expected, and they are really excited. Today, I have been tortured by women."

From: http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2005/09/19/afghan_women_take_special_joy_in_vote/