Dandenong businessman Abdul Khaliq Fazal withdrew from Afghanistan presidential elections and has yet to decide if he will run again in five years’ time.Picture: Donna Oates.
By Lia Bichel
A DANDENONG businessman who had his heart set on being the president of Afghanistan pulled out of the election, citing electoral “fraud”, “unimaginable expenses” and lack of security.
He’s now unsure whether he will run again in five years’ time.
After more than a year of preparation, Afghan Association Australia president Abdul Khaliq Fazal, withdrew from the election in May after visiting with party members and advisers in Afghanistan.
“I pulled out for several reasons,” he said.
Firstly, his advisers had assessed the security situation in Afghanistan, and had major concerns.
Secondly, Mr Fazal said he predicted the election would be rigged, and people would not be able to go to the polls freely and vote for who they thought should be president.
“I predicted that this election would have been full of fraud,” he said.
“I am not corrupt – I am proud of my history, of my political life and I am always going to keep my integrity.”
Thirdly, the cost of exposure was too high for Mr Fazal.
“I estimated it would have cost about $10-$20 million, and that is way beyond my imagination,” he said.
“The front-runners President Hamid Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah had more access to the media.”
Mr Fazal said he pulled out of the election based on these three facts, but felt he would have been perfect for the presidency.
He was a minister for the interim government in 2001, worked as an adviser for past president Hamid Karzai during the last election, and has met with many world leaders.
“People wanted someone with lots of popularity, who had management skills and had been in the Afghan parliament for years,” he said.
“I would have been a threat to (the candidates).”
Mr Fazal said he felt the 20 August election went “quite well” with about six million residents voting at the polls despite Taliban threats to cut people’s fingers off or kill some of those who voted.
“For a country in turmoil, it took a lot of courage for people to vote – I have to respect that.”
President Hamid Karzai and his challenger Abdullah Abdullah will be involved in a second round of voting on 7 November.
Mr Fazal said he would not run in the re-election and would make his decision on whether he would run again closer to the 2014 election.
For now, he is busy moving office, to a location on level two next to the VicUrban office on Lonsdale Street, after his previous one was damaged by fire on Sunday 18 October.
The cause of the fire is not yet known.
