Afghanistan prepares to vote

05 June 2009

The people of Afghanistan will soon be called to vote in the Presidential and Provincial Council elections for the second time since the fall of the Taliban in late 2001. The elections will take place on 20 August.

A British Embassy team (led by DFID) recently visited the provinces of Kunduz and (flying visit of) Baghlan to see what practical support could be offered to the UN and local officials preparing for the elections, and also to hear about local hopes for the future.

Kunduz province is located in the northern region of Afghanistan and is one of its largest cities, benefiting from a good irrigation system, better than average food security and good water access. Previously a major Taliban stronghold, which saw heavy fighting between Taliban and the Northern Alliance, Kunduz has enjoyed relative peace and security since 2001. Baghlan shares many characteristics with Kunduz.

The DFID team met with the local Governor, the Provincial Council, the Independent Elections Commission, United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), the Free and Fair Elections Foundation of Afghanistan (FEFA), non-governmental organisations, local representatives of political parties, the local German Provincial Reconstruction Team (both civilian and military heads), the German sustainable development organisation GTZ, the Hungarian Provincial Reconstruction Team's Deputy Commander and Baghlan's Deputy Governor.

Encouraging female participation

The team was encouraged to learn that 13 women had nominated themselves for the Provincial Council elections (out of 54 candidates), comfortably covering the four seats reserved for women in Kunduz. This is an increase on the last Provincial Council elections in 2006. Baghlan had eight female candidates nominated (out of 196 candidates). It is hoped that these registrations will encourage more female participation on voting day.

Encouragingly, the Kunduz provincial governor’s office and district governors’ office had all received training on their roles and responsibilities towards citizens through the Afghanistan Sub-national Governance Programme (ASGP) Regional Governance. A further five provinces are also due to receive similar training.

In recent months Kunduz has experienced an increase in security incidents. This led to a comment from local NGO employee that: "The security is worse now than it was during the previous election." And that’s in a province that has enjoyed relative peace up until recently. Concerns were shared by all stakeholders that inadequate security provisions (two to three police officers for each of the polling stations) and a general sense of frustration due to perceptions of government corruption have the potential to affect turnout in some areas.

As a result, the Embassy team is now discussing the issues raised with the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF), the UNDP programme supporting the electoral process (ELECT) and the Independent Elections Commission (IEC), as well as with other international partners, to focus government and international attention on key gaps in these final critical months to ensure that this year's elections (to which DFID has committed £10.9 million) are as credible and successful as possible.

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