Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Month: October 2009

What the preliminary results tell us (3): Logar, Baghlan and Uruzgan

Martine van Bijlert •

Another brief overview of what you can find when going through the preliminary election results in which a few simple calculations illustrate how far some people will go, acquiring thousands of votes often in very limited localities. No wonder voters feel their vote no longer counts. So let’s take a brief look at some results […]

Political Landscape Read more

What the preliminary results tell us (2): Nimruz provincial council

Martine van Bijlert •

The study of the provincial council results was initially prompted by a series of phone calls from Nimruz by unsuccessful candidates and upset voters. Their complaints focused on a handful of candidates who had provisionally won the provincial elections and who were considered unsuited for the task – a big smuggler, a person with no […]

Political Landscape Read more

AAN Election Blog 33: So what do we do with the audit?

Martine van Bijlert •

The audit has come to an end. So now… proportion… sample… fraudulent… calculate… disqualify… certify… And then we will have a result. And I am sorry for everybody who is feeling almost relieved, but I really need to say this: Can we please stop pretending that “the process” will give us “a result”. That we […]

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What the preliminary results tell us (1): Kabul provincial council

Martine van Bijlert •

With (international) attention focused firmly on the complexities surrounding the Presidential vote, the struggle for a fair outcome in the provincial council elections continues. The competition was more localised and the level of organisation of the fraud more limited than in the Presidential elections, but the margins needed to win were also much smaller. Many […]

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9 Oct 2009: AAN report summary ‘The Other Side’ in Italian

AAN • admin •

Our partner organisation ARGO has translated the executive summary of Thomas Ruttig’s AAN report ‘The Other Side – Dimensions of the Afghan Insurgency: Causes, Actors and Approaches to ‘Talks’’ into Italian. Find it on the ARGO website here.

Events Read more

AAN Guest Blog: Anti-fraud measures in the Afghan elections

ARGO •

The procedures to cope with the electoral fraud in Afghanistan become more and more complicated, as is the relationship between the Independent Election Commission (IEC) and the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC). The following guest blog authored by our partners from ARGO in Italy bring light into the affair. In the Afghan electoral field two bodies […]

Rights and Freedoms Read more

AAN Election Blog No. 32: We have a new universe – and an old problem

Martine van Bijlert •

The saga of the Afghan election vote count and recount is nearing its conclusion, although even the concluding phase may still drag on for quite a while. The process (oops*) has become so technically complicated and politically multilayered that voters, candidates, donors and observers have lost track of what is happening and how worried they […]

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Report on the 6 Oct. Podium in Berlin: A Legitimacy Breakdown

AAN • admin •

Green Security Policy specialist Winfried Nachtwei – arguably the most knowledgeable MP in the German Bundestag who, unfortunately, did not run again on 27 September, and just came back from his 14th trip to Afghanistan -, Spiegel magazine reporter Susanne Koelbl, who just had visited Kunduz after the fateful airstrike against two hijacked kerosene transporters […]

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What possibly still could be done…

Thomas Ruttig •

…. after the ‘Friends of Afghanistan’ anti-democratic ‘consensus’ The leaked ‘consensus’ of the ‘Friends of Afghanistan’, i.e. the foreign ministers of the most influential Western governments, that President Karzai has won the 20 August elections, is the final knock-out for the remaining democratic aspirations of Afghans. Although it has not been stated officially yet, there […]

Context and Culture Read more

6 Oct and 13 Oct 2009: Two podiums with AAN’s Thomas Ruttig in Berlin.

AAN • admin •

In early October, AAN’s Co-director Thomas Ruttig will participate in two public discussions of Afghan issues in Berlin. On Tuesday 6 October, Heinrich Boell Foundation invites for a jour fixe under the title ‘After the elections in Afghanistan and Germany: Quo vadis at the Hindukush?’ A week later, he will discuss issues of the elections […]

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AAN In The Media – October 2009

AAN Team •

Concerns rise about runoff election UPI, 29 October 2009 This analysis of the news agency quotes Francesc Vendrell saying that the people’s faith already has been badly shaken by the widespread fraud in the first round and that the IEC remaining in position in its current form ‘will only come as confirmation.’ Former UN Envoy […]

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