When he's not canvassing the Afghan backcountry in his beat-up Toyota mini-bus, Ramazan Bashardost, 48, arrives at his presidential campaign headquarters — a gray tent — at 5:30 each morning. It sits across the street from the Afghan parliament and is open to the public, without the gun-wielding bodyguards that surround other high-profile candidates. "My name means 'friend of humans'," he offers, by way of explanation. "I am here for everyone."

The ethnic Hazara member of parliament has made a name for himself in recent months with a non-stop, everyman campaign by car, bicycle and on foot that has spanned 24 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces. In a country where ethnic fault lines are steeped in bloodshed, Bashardost is trying to bridge the divide by...