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Some facts about the coming election in Afghanistan

Malin Lager, August 27, 2005

In September 18th the ballots will be open for the afghan people to in the National Assembly and Provincial Council election and they will vote for Afghanistan’s first entirely democratically elected government. This election will be one step further to achieve a sustainable peace and stability after almost a quarter of a century of war and destruction in Afghanistan.

Two separate elections

Wolesi Jirga or Lower House of National Assembly (the House of People) have got 249 seats and the afghan people will elect a minimum of two representatives from each 34 regions to the Wolesi Jirga. Each number of representatives elected is based on the number of the population in that particular region. Tel total number of candidates are 2 707 and that is including women. They are all competing for the 240 seats in the Lower House of the National Assembly and according to the Afghan constitution the Wolesi Jirga must include at least two women representatives from each 34 provinces.

The Provincial Council has a total of 3 025 candidates and including 248 women candidates that are competing for the seats in the 34 provincial councils. The provincial councils will each be responsible of appointing members to the Upper Houe of National Assembly or Meshrano Jirga (the House of Elders).

Voting centres

The Joint Electoral Management Body(JEMB) have been printing millions of ballots and distributed them to over 6 000 voting centres that are being established before September 18th. On election day the men and the women that are coming to the ballots will be voting in separate rooms and the security around the different ballot stations around Afghanistan will guarded by the Afghan Police Force and with some backup from American and International Security Assistance Forces (ISAF). The results of the election will not be official after all the votes have been counted by late October according to JEMB.