With no Karzai, Afghans vote in open race with high stakes

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France24, 4 April 2014

AAN's Martine van Bijlert is quoted on the expected legitimacy of the elections and the role of an endorsement of any candidate by President Karzai's:

“This election is being held under such difficult circumstances, it’s difficult to control what happens,” said Martine van Bijlert, co-director of the Kabul-based Afghanistan Analysts Network. “It’s going to be a very messy election, regardless of whether the Taliban step up the violence.” … “It’s not so much that a Karzai endorsement has moral weight, it’s the implicit message that if you want the status quo to remain, here’s your candidate,” said van Bijlert. “People believe that a lot of the resources of the state will be used to support the candidate, even though the IECC (Independent Electoral Complaints Commission) has made several announcements saying government officials cannot openly support any candidate.”