Tuesday, September 20, 2005

Afghan Elections: Success Despite "Low" Turnout

Afghans again braved the threat of terrorist attacks to participate in the second democratic elections held in the country, the Associated Press reports.

The story is full of the typical caveats about continuing violence, opium trade, blah, blah, blah, and most notably the "low" voter turnout.

Turnout was actually about 50 percent registered voters -- lower than the last election, but still higher that we do here in the U.S.

I think this comment from the U.S. ambassador sums it up:

"For the millions of Afghans who turned out to vote, this was a significant . . . advance on the road to democracy," U.S. Ambassador Ronald Neumann said in Kabul. "Four years ago, the Taliban were here and women were being stoned to death . . . and now you have women running polling centers and women voting."

Freedom's march countinues in the Middle East.

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