07.10.2004 - Source: Integrated Regional Information Network

North, South Waziristan: International Organization for Migration (IOM) was unable to register Afghan voters due to security threats in the area ("Insecurity hampered voter registration in North and South Waziristan") [#26312],  [ID 313]

Document(s): Open document

04.10.2004 - Source: Institute for War and Peace Reporting

41.3 % of 10.5 million people registered to vote in presidential elections are women; it is estimated that 80% of them can freely vote and the remaining 20 % may not because of pressure from their families ("Election a Milestone for Women") [#26171],  [ID 314]

Document(s): Open document

21.09.2004 - Source: Integrated Regional Information Network

More than 2,000 soldiers disarmed in just 2 weeks; according to Ministry of Defence political parties have been told to cooperate with disarmament programme or they will not be registered ("Disarmament accelerated as elections approach") [#25690],  [ID 315]

Document(s): Open document

09.2004 - Source: Afghanistan Research and Evaluation Unit

Afghan Presidential Candidates, October 2004 ("Free, Fair or Flawed: Challenges for Legitimate Elections in Afghanistan") [#25545],  [ID 312]

"Abdul Latif Pedram (National Congress of Afghanistan)
Background: Writer; poet; journalist; returned from brief exile in France
Ethnicity: Tajik
Hamid Karzai (Independent)
Background: Head of TISA and Interim Administration; Deputy Foreign Minister, 1992-1994
Ethnicity: Pashtun
Humayon Shah Aasifi (National Unity Party)
Background: Minister under King Zahir Shah; lived in exile for 20 years
Ethnicity: Pashtun
Mir Mohammad Mahfuz Nedahi (Independent)
Background: Lecturer at Kabul University; former Minister of Mines and Industries
Ethnicity: Pashtun
Haji Mohammad Mohaqiq (Independent)
Background: A commander during jihad ; Minister of Planning under TISA and AIA
Ethnicity: Hazara
Sayed Ishaq Gailani (National Solidarity Party)
Background: From influential religious family; active in the jihad against Soviet occupation
Ethnicity: Pashtun
Dr. Abdul Satar Sirat (Independent)
Background: Professor; Minister of Justice & Deputy PM under King Zahir Shah; leading figure at Bonn
Ethnicity: Uzbek
Abdul Hafiz Mansoor (Independent)
Background: Former head of Kabul TV and radio; writer; Active in jihad
Ethnicity: Tajik
Dr. Ghulam Farooq Nejrabi (Afghanistan Independence Party)
Background: Medical doctor and lecturer of medical faculty
Ethnicity: Tajik
Ahmad Shah Ahmadzai (Independent)
Background: Deputy PM and Minister of Interior, 1992-1994
Ethnicity: Pashtun
Abdul Hasib Aarian (Independent)
Background: Former police colonel
Ethnicity: Tajik
Wakil Mangal (Independent)
Background: Former editor of Jihad magazine; publisher of several books
Ethnicity: Pashtun
Abdul Hadi Khalilzai (Independent)
Background: Teacher; lawyer; prosecutor
Ethnicity: Pashtun
Mohammad Abrahim Rashid (Independent)
Background: Studied in Germany; worked with Afghan-German refugee body in Pakistan
Ethnicity: Pashtun
Mohammad Yunis Qanouni (Afghanistan National Movement)
Background: Interior Minister in Interim Administration; Education Minister in TISA; a leader of the Northern Alliance
Ethnicity: Tajik
Masooda Jalal (Independent)
Background: Doctor; candidate for President in Emergency Loya Jirga
Ethnicity: Tajik
Sayed Abdul Hadi Dabir (Independent)
Background: A jihad commander against the Soviet occupation
Ethnicity: Tajik
Abdul Rashid Dustum (Independent)
Background: Leader of Junbesh Milli Islami
Deputy Defence Minister in TISA
Ethnicity: Uzbek (p. 18)"

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27.08.2004 - Source: Institute for War and Peace Reporting

A veteran of Afghan wars and politics, Qanuni, is closely identified with the Panjshiri political grouping ("Profile: Younis Qanuni - Panjshiri Roots, Presidential Ambitions") [#25278],  [ID 316]

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10.08.2004 - Source: BBC News

Afghan election officials have approved 18 candidates for landmark presidential elections due on 9 October ("Afghan candidates given go-ahead") [#24646],  [ID 317]

Document(s): Open document

26.07.2004 - Source: BBC News

Afghan leader Hamid Karzai is due to announce that he is officially standing as a candidate in the presidential elections due on 9 October ("Karzai to stake presidential bid") [#24258],  [ID 318]

Document(s): Open document

23.07.2004 - Source: Institute for War and Peace Reporting

Registration of voters facing substantial difficulties ("Hard Road to Voter Registration") [#24264],  [ID 319]

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22.07.2004 - Source: Integrated Regional Information Network

Almost 80 percent of the country's estimated eligible voters have now registered to vote in the national polls scheduled for October ("Afghanistan: Almost 80 percent of estimated voters registered") [#24176],  [ID 320]

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30.03.2004 - Source: International Crisis Group

27 parties established since collapse of the Taliban ("Elections and security in Afghanistan") [#20875],  [ID 321]

"[...] Afghanistan's new constitution recognises the right to form political parties, but with certain qualifications. A welcome restriction, reflected as well in the law on political parties, prohibits the participation of parties that have "military or paramilitary aims and structures". Other provisions, however, act as barriers to free association by barring the formation of parties whose charters are "contrary to the principles of [the] sacred religion of Islam" or that are based on ethnicity, language, religious sect or region.23 Some authorities have defined fundamental principles of Islam to include any principle agreed upon by the major schools of jurisprudence (fiqh); a party whose charter calls for full equality before the law of women and men could by this reasoning be defined as contrary to Islamic principles. Prohibiting the registration of ethnic parties could limit the ability of ethnic groups to seek redress for perceived injustice or discrimination through the electoral process or to articulate and advance the demands and interests of their communities. To date, 27 political parties, including both mujahidin factions and non-militarised parties established after the collapse of the Taliban, have applied for registration at the justice ministry's Office for Coordination and Registration of Political Parties and Social Organisations. Five have been registered,24 while eight have completed the registration process and are awaiting screening for compliance with the constitution and the political parties law by the ministries of interior, defence, and finance, the National Security Directorate (NSD), and the Japanese Embassy, acting on behalf of the DR program. Many observers believe the registration process has been slow and may minimise the potential for nonmilitarised political parties to participate actively in the upcoming elections.
A ministry of justice official told ICG that most of the new political parties have been unable to meet the criteria specified in the law and that some have failed to furnish a list of 700 members, the minimum required to form a political party. Independent observers identified other bottlenecks, including administrative difficulties in getting the ministerial and NSD members of a review committee to convene. According to the official, a permanent committee is now being constituted with secondments from each of the concerned ministries and the NSD, in the hope of expediting the review process. USAID is helping to identify space for the registration office, which is currently very limited.[...]"

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30.03.2004 - Source: International Crisis Group

Regional disparities in voter registration ("Elections and security in Afghanistan") [#20875],  [ID 322]

"[...] Registration to date has been markedly uneven, with respect to both region and gender, according to data collected and analysed by JEMB. As of late February 2004, the multiethnic central region, including Kabul, had by far the highest share of registered voters, 42 per cent, followed by the mainly Pashtun east and the mainly Persian-speaking west, each at approximately 15 per cent. There were far lower rates in the Pashtun-majority south and south east, 5 per cent and 3 per cent respectively. The mainly Hazara central highlands had the highest proportion of registered women, 42 per cent of the total, followed closely by the West, at 37 per cent. The lowest proportions were recorded in the south and south east, where women made up less than 20 per cent of the total.21 These disparities, if reflected in the election, are likely to yield results with a pronounced northern and central bias.
The first phase of registration has been limited to the eight major urban centres and has included a civic education campaign supported by the International Foundation for Election Systems (IFES) and aimed at government employees. Plans to carry out an accelerated three-week registration drive during May, with a goal of registering 6.5 million voters, were shelved in late March due to delays in appointing qualified local staff and obtaining registration kits and to allow for prior civic education efforts in rural areas. Postponement of the elections to September will, according to election officers, compensate by allowing additional time for registration. To address regional disparities in both absolute numbers and women registered, an elections officer told ICG, there have been efforts to mobilise traditional elements, such as elders in Khost, and clerics. The latter issued a resolution in Kandahar that addressed in part the need to register women voters. [...]"

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30.03.2004 - Source: International Crisis Group

Political parties registered for upcoming elections by 25 March 2004 ("Elections and security in Afghanistan") [#20875],  [ID 323]

"[...] The following political parties have been registered as of 25 March 2004:
– Republican Party of Afghanistan, led by Sebghatullah Sanjar, a 36-year-old former member of the Emergency Loya Jirga Commission with a degree in political science from Kabul University.
– National Unity Movement, led by Sultan Mahmud Ghazi, a cousin of the former Afghan King Muhammad Zahir. The formerly royalist party has been supporting President Karzai since the Constitutional Loya Jirga.
– Party of National Solidarity of Youth of Afghanistan, led by Muhammad Jamil Karzai.
– Party of Islamic Independence of Afghanistan, led by Faruq Najrabi.
– Party of National Unity of Afghanistan, led by Abdurrashid Jalili, a former member of the Khalq faction of the communist People's Democratic Party of Afghanistan.
ICG interviews, Kabul, 25-26 March 2004."

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30.03.2004 - Source: International Crisis Group

Republican Party of Afghanistan lead by liberal Sebghatullah Sanjar first to register ("Elections and security in Afghanistan") [#20875],  [ID 324]

"[...] The Kabul-based Republican Party of Afghanistan, led by a liberal former Emergency Loya Jirga commissioner, Sebghatullah Sanjar, was the first to be registered. Though the process took two months, Sanjar holds a benign view: "They [the justice ministry] carefully assessed our applications and copies of the national ID cards of our members to make sure one person was not a member of more than one party at the same time. These types of inquiries are good and right indeed. We believe in both lawfulness and political pluralism".[...]"

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30.03.2004 - Source: International Crisis Group

Lack of security assurances is main obstacle faced by non-militarised parties ("Elections and security in Afghanistan") [#20875],  [ID 325]

"[...]The main obstacle faced by non-militarised parties and genuinely independent candidates, however, is the lack of adequate security assurances. "Young parties like ours won't be able to take part in the election if ISAF is not expanded to ensure our security outside Kabul", Sanjar said. "Obviously, we can't compete with provincial governors who have guns and all [other] resources under their control". Current plans call for the creation of a security ring around voter registration sites, with successive zones of authority patrolled in turn by trained police, the Afghan National Army, and either a Coalition or ISAF quick-reaction force, with medevac, intelligence, and logistics capabilities. All three elements of this security arrangement are tenuous propositions, however. Training for police officers in the German-administered Police Academy in Kabul and constables in the seven U.S.-supported regional training centres established since November 2003 will not keep pace with the numbers required for election security. The interior ministry is accordingly attempting to expedite the deployment of 30,000 police for the elections through a "train the trainers" program,a task that should be measured against the three-year timetable intended for training 50,000 constables and 12,000 border guards in the regional training centres.The ANA, as mentioned earlier, has problems of attrition and is stretched by its current deployments as presidential guard, in counterinsurgency operations in the south east, and since mid-March, in Herat, following armed clashes between forces loyal to provincial governor Ismail Khan and the Kabul-backed 17th Division. [...]"

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19.03.2004 - Source: UN General Assembly

1.46 million voters out of estimated 2.5 million voters have registered by 15 March 2004 with uneven regional distribution of women voters ("The situation in Afghanistan and its implications for international peace and security A/58/742–S/2004/230") [#20724],  [ID 326]

"11. In the Bonn Agreement it was acknowledged that a reliable voter register was essential to the credibility of elections in Afghanistan, and the United Nations was requested to conduct a registration of voters. This exercise began in December 2003 at registration sites in the eight regional centres of Afghanistan. By 15 March, 1.46 million voters had registered out of an estimated total of 2.5 million eligible voters at these locations. This first phase of registration is due to end on 7 April, and will be followed in May by a large-scale voter registration drive throughout the remaining population centres and the rural districts, security permitting. This nationwide drive will allow 8 million more voters to register. It is important to note that the target figure, 10.5 million Afghan voters, is an estimate for planning purposes. No reliable population data have been available since the 1978 census. Ultimately, therefore, the comprehensiveness of the registration exercise will have to be judged on the realities at local level. In the meantime, the priority of the registration drive is to provide equal access to all eligible voters, so that all who wish to vote, especially women, are able to register.

12. Of the 1.46 million voters registered to date, 27 per cent are women. Since the end of January, the rate at which women are registering has increased from 16 per cent to around 35 per cent. This rate is, however, uneven across the country, varying from 41 percent in Bamian to 13 per cent in Kandahar. A great effort has to be made to boost women’s registration to allow their full participation in the election. The Ministry of Women’s Affairs and women delegates to the Constitutional Loya Jirga are leading this effort. They have been joined in the south and the south-east by tribal and religious leaders who have called for full women’s participation in the electoral process."

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Open document

08.01.2004 - Source: ReliefWeb

UN says voter registration in Afghanistan insufficient to allow for June elections (UN News Service) ("UN says voter registration in Afghanistan insufficient to allow for June elections (UN News Service)") [#18623],  [ID 328]

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12.2003 - Source: ReliefWeb

Voter registration process ("BAAG Afghanistan Monthly Review; December 2003"), Autor: British Agencies Afghanistan Group (BAAG) [#18844],  [ID 329]

"On 1st December, UNAMA commenced the registration of voters, as planned, for the elections due to be held in June 2004. By 4th January, a total of 243,108 had registered. Of these 192,028 were men and 51,080 were women. Unless the registration process can be significantly accelerated, it is unlikely that it can be completed in time for the elections envisaged for June under the Bonn Agreement."

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