One of the more positive developments in the September 18 Parliamentary elections is the number of young people who succeeded in their bid for the legislature. They will take their place alongside more familiar tribal leaders, power brokers and other influential people, many of whom will be resuming their seats from the previous Parliament.

In Kabul, four of the new generation, including two women, were near the top of the preliminary list of winner. A remarkable number of young candidates have also scored high in other provinces.

In part this could be due to demographics: decades of war have left Afghanistan with a disproportionately young population. According to official statistics, close to 70 percent of the population is under 25 years of age.

“Afghanistan is a young country,” said Wahid Mojda, a Kabul-based political analyst. “Young people are disappointed about what their elders are doing. They can no longer tolerate such ineffectiveness.” 

Mojda believes that young candidates ran their election campaigns properly, and were able to convey their messages to voters, and gain their trust.
 
“Young candidates received more votes from educated people in areas where elections were conducted in a transparent, free and fair manner,” said Noor-ul-Haq Ulumi, a former general and an MP from Kandahar who did not make it onto the preliminary list of winners released on October 20.

Ramadan Bashardost, who looks set to retain his Kabul seat, disagrees.

“Dividing the society into young and old generations is like the poison of breaking up the society according to tribal divisions,” he said. “In my opinion, age cannot be a major criterion for being a good or bad parliamentarian; only honesty and competence can determine the worth of a candidate.”

The younger candidates, not surprisingly, pin their success on hard work and solid political platforms.

 “My well-organized platform, focused on providing free healthcare services, improvement in the education and agriculture sectors and the strengthening of higher education caused people to vote for me,” said Maruf Fazli, a young candidate who made the preliminary cut in Herat. “People read my platform carefully; they trusted me and voted accordingly.”

Herat has 17 seats in Parliament, including five reserved for women.

Another young women and a potential winner in Faryab province is Rangina Kargar. She is 26 years old and graduated from the Economics Faculty of Balkh University in 2007. She was one of 10 female candidates to run in the September 18 parliamentary elections in Faryab.

She attributed her success to her ability to understand people’s problems, her close work with the voters, a good working agenda and modest election campaign expenses.
Faryab has nine seats allocated in Parliament, including three reserved for women.

No one is prepared to estimate the total percentage of seats in the Parliament that will go to young people. According to Noor Mohammad Noor, spokesman for the Independent Election Commission, candidates are not defined by their age. Nevertheless, he is happy to see that more young people have decided to enter politics.

“It is good news for Afghanistan that the younger generation is engaged in politics,” he said.