Afghan votes come cheap, and often in bulk

How much does it cost to buy an Afghan vote? Saturday's parliamentary elections offer a unique opportunity to ascertain that price–and it is in theory a market with many buyers, as 2,500 candidates scramble for only 249 seats. Afghanistan may be a feudal society in many ways, but it is very much capitalist feudalism (as the Soviets found out to their regret). Nonetheless, prices are low. In northern Kunduz Province, Afghan votes cost $15 each; in eastern Ghazni Province, a vote can be bought for $18. In Kandahar, they sell their rights for as little as $1 a ballot. More commonly, the price seems to hover in the $5 to $6 range, as quoted to New York Times reporters in places like Helmand and Khost Provinces. Even by the standards of a country rated as one of the poorest in the world, Afghans seem to be selling their votes cheap, and it is not so surprising why. Five dollars is a lot of money when more than half the population lives on less than a dollar a day. Indeed, in many rural parts of the country there is nothing in the way of a legitimate cash economy. References are often heard to the Ten-Dollar-a-Day Taliban, occasional laborers enlisted in cash-for-work projects like burying roadside bombs. Vote buying is much more common in this election than the last national balloting here last year. The feeling, experts say, was that last year's election was stolen wholesale by supporters of President Hamid Karzai, so there was little need for vote buying.