12.2007 - Source: UN High Commissioner for Refugees

The 34 Provincial Councils have between 9 and 29 members (one quarter of the seats should be reserved for women); elections for the District Councils postponed due to disputes over district boundaries; in the meantime, Development Councils have been established in many areas ("UNHCR's Eligibility Guidelines for Assessing the International Protection Needs of Afghan Asylum-Seekers") [ID 22116]

"Provincial Councils

The 34 Provincial Councils have each between nine and 29 members depending on the size of the province’s population, who are elected in a single provincial constituency. Candidates must reside in the province in which they stand for election and cannot stand simultaneously for Wolesi Jirga and Provincial Council elections. The revised Electoral Law states that one quarter of the seats on a Provincial Council should be reserved for women. For the 420 available seats on the Provincial Councils, 121 women were elected. Five provincial seats reserved for women remained, however, vacant until the next elections, owing to the lack of women candidates in Nangarhar, Uruzgan and Zabol provinces.

District Councils

In order to organize activities at the local level and provide communities with the opportunity to actively participate in the local administration, District Councils have been established. Members of these Councils are to be elected through free, general, secret and direct elections for a period of three years. Elections have been postponed, however, until disputes over district boundaries are resolved by the Wolesi Jirga. In the meantime, local Development Councils, which partly assume the functions elected District Councils are expected to play in the future, have been established in many areas, through appointments by provincial authorities rather than election."

Document(s): Open document

2006 - Source: Austrian Centre for Country of Origin and Asylum Research and Documentation

Archived version of former topics & issues chapter on local governments and the relationship between the Central and local governments [ID 17870]

Document(s): Open document