Afghan parliamentary election, 2018

Last updated
Afghan parliamentary election, 2018
Flag of Afghanistan.svg
←  2010 20 October 20182023 →
All 249 seats to the House of the People
  Salahuddin Rabbani at US State Dept November 29, 2012.jpg Mohammad Mohaqiq - November 2017.jpeg Abdul Rashid Dostum in September 2014.jpg
Leader Salahuddin Rabbani Mohammad Mohaqiq Abdul Rashid Dostum
Party Jamiat-e Islami PIUPA Junbish
Last election171110
Incumbent Speaker

Abdul Raouf Ebrahimi
Independent


Afghanistan
National emblem of Afghanistan.svg
This article is part of a series on the
politics and government of
Afghanistan

Parliamentary elections were held in Afghanistan on Saturday 20 October 2018 to elect members of the House of the People. [1] [2] They had originally been scheduled for 15 October 2016, [3] but were initially postponed to 7 July 2018, [4] and then again to 20 October. [5] Much of the prelude to the elections has focused on the debate over reforming the country's electoral laws. The current system is one of single non-transferable vote. [6] Kandahar's election was held on October 27. [7] [8]

Afghanistan A landlocked south-central Asian country

Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in South and Central Asia. Afghanistan is bordered by Pakistan in the south and east; Iran in the west; Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan in the north; and in the far northeast, China. Its territory covers 652,000 square kilometers (252,000 sq mi) and much of it is covered by the Hindu Kush mountain range, which experiences very cold winters. The north consists of fertile plains, whilst the south-west consists of deserts where temperatures can get very hot in summers. Kabul serves as the capital and its largest city.

House of the People (Afghanistan) lower house of the National Assembly of Afghanistan

The House of Representatives of the People or Majles-e-Namayendagan Afghanistan in Persian and Wolesi Jirga in Pashtu and Turkic, is the lower house of the bicameral National Assembly of Afghanistan, alongside the upper House of Elders.

Single non-transferable vote or SNTV is an electoral system used in multi-member constituency elections.

Contents

Background

Aftermath of the 2014 presidential election

Major role was being played by top Afghan businessman Haji Inayatulllah Khan Kochai. Most of the problems have centered around pre-existing disputes within Afghanistan's coalition government between the two main candidates from the 2014 Presidential election. The overhaul of the Afghan electoral system prior to a new parliamentary election was a key part of the post-election power-sharing deal reached between President Mohammad Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah. Whilst both agree in not holding an election before the process is overhauled, there is disagreement on how to proceed and who should oversee the process. Ghani's recommendation of Shukria Barakzai for the post was rejected by Abdullah, who saw her as being too close to Ghani. Simultaneously Abdullah has also been strongly opposed to the same officials overseeing the election as oversaw the 2014 Presidential election, due in part to the widespread belief that Ghani benefited from the 2014 elections irregularities compared to Abdullah. Tying into this is the fact that no officials from the election have been charged with any crime or removed. [9] In contrast to Abdullah's more hardline calls for total overhaul, Ghani's supporters have been more supportive of more limited reforms. [10]

Abdullah Abdullah Afghan politician

Abdullah Abdullah is an Afghan politician, serving as Chief Executive of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan since September 2014. From October 2001 to April 2005, he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs. Prior to that he was a senior member of the Northern Alliance working as an adviser to Ahmad Shah Massoud. He also worked as a medical doctor during the late 1990s.

Issues to be addressed

One of the major issues in need of reform has been voter registration. Afghan voters are currently not limited to voting in particular areas, meaning that they can use their 2001-issued voting cards in any polling station. Simultaneously there have been 3 major registrations since 2001, resulting in a total of 20 million election cards being distributed. In contrast, Afghanistan only has an estimated 12 million voters, making the number of cards in circulation a source of potential fraud. Introducing an electronic identity system is a difficult process however, with some estimating it may take up to 10 years. [10]

The continuing failure to set a date for new elections or reform the system led to the United Nations Development Programme to cancel a multimillion-dollar project to fund Afghan electoral bodies in June 2015. The cut came at a time when Afghan aid projects were coming under increased scrutiny. [11]

On July 16, and following a 9-month delay, Ghani issued a decree establishing a 16-member commission to look into electoral reform. [12] The parliaments term expired on 22 June 2015, leading President Ghani to issue a decree extending the parliament until new elections. By August 2015 the commission had begun looking at the issue of voting reform. [13]

Electoral Reform Commission proposals

On Sunday 30 August 2015 the Electoral Reform Commission submitted their proposals, following a month of deliberation. Amongst the proposals were calls for allotting 83, or 1/3, of the Afghan parliaments 250 seats to political parties, in accordance with the parties national results. Other proposals included the restructuring of the current election commission; the creation of a clear voter identification system ahead of future polling; and moving to an electoral system that divides provinces into smaller voting districts that can be easily quarantined in case of fraud. According to the New York Times, observers felt that the proposals weighed towards the view of reform favored by Abdullah Abdullah. [14]

Disagreements over the plan saw two members of the commission; Kawun Kakar and Shah Mahmood Miakhel, who are believed to be close to Mr. Ghani, walking out. Both criticised the plan for allocating party seats on the basis of a national constituency result. Instead, both felt that smaller, more local constituencies would offer a closer link between parliamentarians and the electorate, whilst they felt the suggested system discriminated in favour of larger, national parties. Shah Sultan Akefi, the head of the commission, rejected these claims, and argued that the proposed system was important for developing national political parties, instead of maintaining the current system of non-partisan, and ideologically divergent independent candidates. [14]

Process

Out of around 12 million eligible Afghans, there were nearly 9 million registered voters including 3 million women. [15] There were going to be more than 21,000 polling stations where voters can cast their ballots, protected by more than 54,000 members of the security services. [16]

Conduct

The parliamentary election was held as scheduled on 20 October. [2] [1] Despite some violence and delays in the openings of some polling stations, reports showed that there were long lines and high voter turnout at available polling stations. [17] [18] [19] Delays in the arrival of election workers also caused some polling station to remain open longer so people would be able to cast their vote. [2] The provinces of Kandahar and Ghanzi will hold elections at a later date. [1] Immediately after the polls closed, election workers began counting the ballots. [20] The chairman of the Independent Election Commission (IEC) of Afghanistan, Gulajan Bade Sayad, said more than 2 million Afghans had voted in 27 provinces by 2 p.m. local time, with at least 638,000 votes coming from Kabul. [17] IEC officials reported that up to 4 million registered Afghan voters turned out to cast their ballot. [21] The IEC further stated that approximately 3 million registered voters were confirmed to have cast their ballot and some suggested that numerous sums of the country's 9 million registered voters didn't exist and were based on forgery of identification. [22] [23] The U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) stated it was "encouraged by the high numbers of Afghans who turned out" and praised the efforts which were made to ensure the election would take place. [24] [25] [17] Voting was also extended to October 21, with the exemption of Kandahar and Ghanzi, and after the polls closed, Sayad announced that approximately 4 million registered Afghan voters had cast their ballot in the two days of voting. [26]

Over 170 people were killed or wounded in bombings and rocket attacks throughout the first day of voting, with at least 18 people killed and 67 injured in blasts near polling stations in the capital, Kabul. [27]

On October 27, 2018, Kandahar held its election. [7] [8]

Turnout

Sayad stated that the IEC estimated voter turnout to be at an "impressive" 45 percent, with women participating at an "historic" fraction of 33 percent of the voters. [28] This does not include results from the provinces of Kandahar and Ghanzi, which will hold elections at later dates.

Higher-than-expected turnout was also reported in the Kandahar election which took place on October 27. [29] [30]

Results

The parliamentary results were to be released within 20 days of the election, and the final results by 20 December 2018. [31]

Related Research Articles

Politics of Afghanistan government, parties, and political activities in Afghanistan

The politics of Afghanistan consists of the council of ministers, provincial governors and the national assembly, with a president serving as the head of state and commander-in-chief of the Afghan Armed Forces. The nation is currently led by President Ashraf Ghani who is backed by two vice presidents, Abdul Rashid Dostum and Sarwar Danish. In the last decade the politics of Afghanistan have been influenced by NATO countries, particularly the United States, in an effort to stabilise and democratise the country. In 2004, the nation's new constitution was adopted and an executive president was elected. The following year a general election to choose parliamentarians took place.

Ashraf Ghani Afghanistani politician

Mohammad Ashraf Ghanī Ahmadzai ; born 19 May 1949 as the son of Shah Jan in Logar, is an Afghan politician and current President of Afghanistan, elected on 21 September 2014. An anthropologist by education, he previously served as finance minister and the chancellor of Kabul University.

2004 Afghan presidential election election to the office of President of Afghanistan

An election to the office of President of Afghanistan was held on October 9, 2004. Hamid Karzai won the election with 55.4% of the votes and three times more votes than any other candidate. Twelve candidates received less than 1% of the vote. It is estimated that more than three-quarters of Afghanistan's nearly 12 million registered voters cast ballots. The election was overseen by the Joint Electoral Management Body, chaired by Zakim Shah and vice-chaired by Ray Kennedy, an American working for the United Nations.

United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan political UN mission

The United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) is a political UN mission established at the request of the Government of Afghanistan to assist it and the people of Afghanistan in laying the foundations for sustainable peace and development. UNAMA was established on 28 March 2002 by United Nations Security Council Resolution 1401. Its original mandate was to support the Bonn Agreement. Reviewed annually, this mandate has been altered over time to reflect the needs of the country and was extended for another year on 8 March 2018 by Resolution 2405 (2018).

Elections in Afghanistan

This article gives information on elections in Afghanistan.

Elections in Jordan

Elections in Jordan are for the lower house, known as the House of Representatives, of the bicameral parliament of Jordan, as well as for local elections. They take place within a political system where the King has extensive legislative and executive powers, retaining ultimate political control. The Prime Minister is selected by the King, the PM is then free to choose his own Cabinet. The parliament has quotas: three seats for Circassians and Chechens, nine for Christians and fifteen for women. The electoral system favours rural tribes and those of East Bank origin over urban areas that are primarily inhabited by those of Palestinian descent.

2005 Afghan parliamentary election election

Afghanistan held parliamentary and provincial council elections on 18 September 2005. The first results were declared on 9 October, with final results being delayed by accusations of fraud, and were finally announced on 12 November.

Ahmad Zia Massoud Afghan politician

Ahmad Zia Massoud was the Vice President of Afghanistan in the first elected administration of President Hamid Karzai, from December 2004 to November 2009. He is a younger brother of the late Ahmad Shah Massoud, the resistance leader against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and against the Taliban. In late 2011, Ahmad Zia Massoud joined hands with major leaders in the National Front of Afghanistan, which strongly opposes a return of the Taliban to power. The National Front is generally regarded as a reformation of the United Front which with U.S. air support removed the Taliban from power in late 2001.

2009 Afghan presidential election presidential election of Afghanistan

Presidential elections were held in Afghanistan on 20 August 2009. The election resulted in victory for incumbent Hamid Karzai, who won 49.67% of the vote, while his main rival Abdullah Abdullah finished second with 30.59% of the vote.

2010 Afghan parliamentary election

The Afghan parliamentary election, 2010 to elect members of the House of the People took place on 18 September 2010. The Afghan Independent Election Commission - established in accordance with the article 156 of the Constitution of Afghanistan for the purpose of organizing and supervising all elections in the country - postponed the poll from its original date of 22 May to September 18.

Elections in the United Kingdom types of elections in the United Kingdom

There are six types of elections in the United Kingdom: elections to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, elections to devolved parliaments and assemblies, elections to the European Parliament, local elections, mayoral elections and Police and Crime Commissioner elections. Within each of those categories, there may be by-elections as well as general elections. Elections are held on Election Day, which is conventionally a Thursday. Since the passing of the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 for general elections, all six types of elections are held after fixed periods, though early elections to parliament and the devolved assemblies and parliaments can occur in certain situations. Currently, six electoral systems are used: the single member plurality system, the multi member plurality system, party-list proportional representation, the single transferable vote, the additional member system and the supplementary vote.

Voter Identification laws

A voter ID law is a law that requires a person to show some form of identification on election day. In many jurisdictions requiring voter IDs, voters who do not have photo ID often must sign a Challenged Voter Affidavit in order to receive a ballot to vote. Because of perceptions of a differing means to obtain identification on the basis of socioeconomic status, age, or race, some people consider these laws as controversial.

2012 Gambian parliamentary election

A parliamentary election was held in the Gambia on 29 March 2012. The election was for 48 of 53 seats in the unicameral National Assembly, with five seats being appointed by the president.

2014 Afghan presidential election presidential election

Presidential elections were held in Afghanistan on 5 April 2014, with a second round held on 14 June. Incumbent President Hamid Karzai was not eligible to run due to term limits. The registration period for presidential nominations was open from 16 September 2013 until 6 October 2013. A total of 27 candidates were confirmed to be running for office. However, on 22 October Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission disqualified 16 of the candidates, leaving only 11 in the race. By April 2014 three candidates gave up the race and decided to support some of the eight remaining candidates. Opinion polls showed Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani as the front-runners and indeed the results of the first round election had Abdullah in the lead and Ghani behind him. The second set of results came after the run-off on 14 June, two months after the first round. Preliminary results were expected on 2 July and the final result on 22 July. However, widespread accusations of fraud delayed these results. In September 2014, the Independent Election Commission named Ashraf Ghani the winner.

National United Party of Afghanistan

The National United Party of Afghanistan is a major left-wing political party in Afghanistan.

The following lists events from 2014 in Afghanistan.

2016 Jordanian general election elections

General elections were held in Jordan on 20 September 2016 to elect the 18th House of Representatives. The elections were announced after parliament was dissolved by King Abdullah II on 29 May 2016, with the King appointing Hani Mulki as interim Prime Minister following the resignation of Abdullah Ensour.

2019 Afghan presidential election

Presidential elections will be held in Afghanistan in 2019. It was announced on December 26, 2018 that the Independent Election Commission (IEC) would postpone the next Presidential election from April 20 to July 20, 2019 in order to fix problems that became apparent during the October 2018 parliamentary elections. The additional time will be used to verify voter lists and train election workers on the new biometric identification system.

Maidan Shar attack 2019 terrorist attack

On 21 January 2019, in central Afghanistan, the Taliban attacked a military compound in Maidan Shar, killing officers of the Afghan National Directorate of Security. The Taliban attacked while engaging in the process of negotiating a truce with the United States. The attack began when an explosives-laden car rammed through a military checkpoint and onto the grounds of the compound, where the vehicle detonated. After the explosion, two gunmen entered the base and opened fire on Afghan soldiers, before the two were shot down. A senior official in the Afghan defense ministry said that 126 people were killed in the explosion. The Taliban claimed responsibility and stated that over 190 people were killed in the attack. The Afghan National Directorate of Security (NDS) reported that 36 military personnel were killed in the attack. Afghan president, Ashraf Ghani condemned the attack and said that the 'Afghan intelligence agency personnel were target of the attack'.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "A Round Up Of Saturday's Parliamentary Elections – TOLOnews" . Retrieved 21 October 2018.
  2. 1 2 3 https://www.usnews.com/news/world/articles/2018-10-19/voting-begins-in-afghan-parliamentary-polls-despite-threats
  3. ↑ "Afghan Panel Sets Election Date, Drawing Government Criticism".
  4. ↑ News, ABC. "International News: Latest Headlines, Video and Photographs from Around the World – People, Places, Crisis, Conflict, Culture, Change, Analysis and Trends". ABC News. Archived from the original on 2017-07-06. Retrieved 2017-07-02.
  5. ↑ "Afghanistan Sets Date for Parliamentary and District Elections After 3-Year Security Delay". 1 April 2018.
  6. ↑ "Electoral Reform, or rather: Who will control Afghanistan's next election?Afghanistan Analysts Network – Afghanistan Analysts Network". www.afghanistan-analysts.org.
  7. 1 2 "Elections Underway In Kandahar". TOLOnews. Retrieved 6 December 2018.
  8. 1 2 "Afghans Vote In Kandahar Elections Delayed By Violence". RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty. Retrieved 6 December 2018.
  9. ↑ Mashal, Mujib (19 June 2015). "Afghan Parliament's Term Is Extended After Squabbles Delay Elections". New York Times . Kabul.
  10. 1 2 Loyn, David (14 February 2015). "Afghanistan's attempts to reform voting face failure". BBC News . Kabul.
  11. ↑ Donati, Jessica (12 June 2015). "Frustrated donors end funding for Afghan parliamentary elections". Reuters . Kabul.
  12. ↑ Rasmussen, Naomi (1 September 2015). "Strengthening Afghanistan's Ballot Box". Foreign Policy.
  13. ↑ IWPR Afghanistan (7 August 2015). "Afghans Impatient for Electoral Reform". Institute for War & Peace Reporting.
  14. 1 2 Mashal, Mujib (31 August 2015). "Afghanistan's Electoral Reform Plan Is Met With Skepticism". New York Times . Kabul. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  15. ↑ "Afghan electioneering in full swing as voting day for parliamentary polls gets closer – Xinhua – English.news.cn". www.xinhuanet.com.
  16. ↑ Diplomat, Catherine Putz, The. "Parliamentary Elections Loom in Afghanistan".
  17. 1 2 3 Tanzeem, Ayesha. "Millions of Afghans Vote Despite Attacks, Threats" . Retrieved 21 October 2018.
  18. ↑ "Afghans defy deadly poll violence". 20 October 2018. Retrieved 21 October 2018– via www.bbc.com.
  19. ↑ "Long queues as Afghan voters defy election day attacks, delays". 20 October 2018. Retrieved 21 October 2018.
  20. ↑ "Counting under way in Afghan poll marred by deadly violence, chaos" . Retrieved 21 October 2018.
  21. ↑ (TNS), Mohammad Jawad and Qiamuddin Noori dpa. "Afghans vote despite election chaos and violence" . Retrieved 21 October 2018.
  22. ↑ "Counting under way in Afghan poll marred by deadly violence, chaos". Channel Asia. Retrieved 21 October 2018.
  23. ↑ "Counting under way in Afghan poll marred by deadly violence, chaos". Arab Mews. 20 October 2018. Retrieved 21 October 2018.
  24. ↑ "UN encouraged by Afghans' desire to vote, urges authorities to safeguard and complete elections". 20 October 2018. Retrieved 21 October 2018.
  25. ↑ "UN encouraged by Afghans' desire to vote, urges authorities to safeguard and complete elections – Afghanistan" . Retrieved 21 October 2018.
  26. ↑ Associated Press (October 21, 2018). "The Latest: Amid violence, Afghan elections draw to a close". ABC News. Retrieved October 21, 2018.
  27. ↑ "Afghanistan election: Multiple blasts reported at Kabul polling stations". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 21 October 2018.
  28. ↑ Shadi Khan Saif (October 21, 2018). "Voting for landmark Afghan parliament polls concludes". Anadolu Agency . Retrieved October 21, 2018.
  29. ↑ "Afghanistan's Kandahar province votes a week late after police..." 27 October 2018. Retrieved 6 December 2018– via www.reuters.com.
  30. ↑ "High turnout reported in Kandahar despite fear of attacks". Arab News. 27 October 2018. Retrieved 6 December 2018.
  31. ↑ "Polls close in Afghanistan's long-delayed parliamentary elections". www.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 23 October 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.