Tuesday, October 05, 2004

Inside the Afghan Elections

BROOKE GLADSTONE: We have been told by the Bush administration that about 10 million people have registered to vote. Skeptics say there aren't that many people in the country. So-- can we even reliably know what the population of that nation is?
PAMELA CONSTABLE: No, we don't. There has not been a census in a very long time. There is no reliable estimate of the population. It was estimated that there would be approximately 10 million people of voting age in the country, and as you said, all of those - and more - appear to have registered. [LAUGHTER] I'd be careful, though, not to necessarily call it fraud, in the classic sense of the word. In many cases people did not understand what the registration was for. Many people, especially women, who are illiterate and don't know anything about politics in many cases, thought they were getting a food ration card. Therefore, if they had a chance to sign up twice, they would do it.

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