Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Ali Yawar Adili

Afghanistan’s new set of election officials are sworn in by the Chief Justice at the presidential palace on 4 March. Their first job will be sorting out the parliamentary elections. At the same time, they need to prepare for the all-important presidential poll in July.

Afghanistan’s 2019 Elections (3): New electoral commissioners, amendments to the electoral law

Ali Yawar Adili •

President Ashraf Ghani has appointed new commissioners and heads of secretariats for both electoral commissions, the Independent Election Commission (IEC) and the Election Complaints Commission (ECC). This follows a busy few weeks in which the election law was amended, all the old electoral commissioners were dismissed and new electoral officers voted in by the presidential […]

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Afghanistan’s 2019 elections (2): Who is running to become the next president?

Ali Yawar Adili •

The Independent Election Commission has published the preliminary list of the 2019 presidential candidates. The list includes 18 candidates. It should now go through a vetting process and a challenge and appeal period before it is finalised and published on 26 March, according to the electoral calendar. AAN’s researcher, Ali Yawar Adili, looks at the […]

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The IEC members appear in a public meeting on 20 January to announce the final results of the October 2018 parliamentary elections for nine provinces. After more than three months, the IEC is still struggling to wrap up the results of last year’s elections, while it now needs to get ready to prepare for the presidential election, and three other votes, on 20 July 2019. Photo: IEC website

Afghanistan’s 2019 elections (1): The countdown to the presidential election has kicked off

Ali Yawar Adili •

Afghanistan has just concluded its candidate nomination period for the presidential election, which has been moved from the initial date, 20 April, to 20 July 2019. The election will now involve four votes at the same time: provincial elections, district council elections, parliamentary elections in Ghazni province, and the presidential poll. With this, the country […]

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Taleban Attacks on Khas Uruzgan, Jaghori and Malestan (II): A new and violent push into Hazara areas

Ali Yawar Adili • Martine van Bijlert •

The Taleban attacks on Hazara areas in Uruzgan and Ghazni were unprecedented in their reach and led to massive displacement. The attacks indicated a clear shift in the Taleban’s behaviour towards the Hazara areas, stimulating various hypotheses about their motives. In this second part of a series of two dispatches, AAN’s Ali Yawar Adili and […]

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Taleban Attacks on Khas Uruzgan, Jaghori and Malestan (I): A new and violent push into Hazara areas

Ali Yawar Adili • Martine van Bijlert •

In late October 2018, the Taleban pushed deeper into Hazara areas than they had ever done before. They first pursued Hakim Shujai, a notorious former Afghan Local Police (ALP) commander, into Malestan, then launched an assault on the district of Jaghori and thereafter attacked Malestan’s district centre, almost resulting in its collapse. The attacks were […]

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Election officials struggled with the new biometric verification devices, here being used in a polling centre in Daikundi. (Photo: Ehsan Qaane 2018)

Aftershocks of a Procedural Ambiguity: The IEC and ECC dispute over which votes to validate

Ali Yawar Adili •

When the Independent Election Commission (IEC), at the last minute, introduced the use of biometric machines in the Wolesi Jirga election, it approved a procedure stipulating that the votes cast without the new system would be invalid. But it never decidedly clarified what it would do with the polling stations that failed to use them. Then, […]

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Women voters standing in the queue outside the polling stations to vote during the second day of the Afghan parliamentary elections on 21 October 2018. Photo Photo: Ali Yawar Adili

Election Day Two: A first hand account of the trials and chaos of second-day voting

Ali Yawar Adili •

The parliamentary election that was finally held after a three and half year delay, was meant to end the extra-constitutionality of the legislature and boost the legitimacy of the state. New anti-fraud measures were put in place to ensure transparent elections, but they were poorly prepared and implemented. Now, after two days of voting, the […]

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Afghanistan Elections Conundrum (21): Biometric verification likely to spawn host of new problems

Ali Yawar Adili •

Tomorrow’s parliamentary vote will use biometric voter verification machines, the first time ever in an Afghan election. The Independent Election Commission (IEC) has said the use of these machines in every polling station will boost transparency and deter fraud. Yet questions abound. The decision was made at the last minute and because of political pressure. […]

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Walls, trees and pylons in Maimana are all papered with candidates’ posters ahead of the upcoming elections. Candidates are having to concentrate on the provincial capital given that insecurity is making it difficult or impossible to get to other the districts. Photo: Ali Yawar Adili, October 2018

Afghanistan Elections Conundrum (17): Voters disenfranchised in Faryab

Ali Yawar Adili •

Almost two-thirds of voters in Faryab will not be able to vote in the 20 October parliamentary elections after insecurity prevented them from registering. Since voter registration ended in early July, the government has seen an even further loss of control and more than a dozen additional polling centres have since closed. AAN’s Ali Yawar […]

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Supporters of some disqualified candidates including MullahTarakhel and Zardad Faryadi shut down the IEC headquarters in Kabul from 13 to 25 August in protest against the ECC’s decision to debar them from standing in 20 October elections. Photo credit: Tolonews

Afghanistan Election Conundrum (15): A contested disqualification of candidates

Ali Yawar Adili •

The campaign by more than 2,600 candidates to secure votes in the Afghan parliamentary elections is in full swing, for over a week now. 35 would-be MPs, however, are not running. They have been barred from standing by the Electoral Complaints Commission, chiefly for ties to illegal armed groups. In this piece, AAN’s Ali Yawar […]

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On 29 August, the IEC reported that it had designed the ballot papers for 20 October poll and sent it to Dubai for printing. But no ballots designed for district council elections and Ghazni parliamentary elections. Photo: IEC.

Afghanistan Election Conundrum (14): District council and Ghazni parliamentary elections quietly dropped

Ali Yawar Adili •

It has emerged that, without any announcement or formal decision taken, district council elections and Wolesi Jirga elections in Ghazni will not be taking place as planned on 20 October. A special committee of senior government officials had been tasked in early August to rule on an IEC proposal to delay both elections. It has […]

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Afghanistan Election Conundrum (11): Electoral reform and the preparations for the 2018 elections – a summary

Ali Yawar Adili •

Afghanistan’s parliamentary elections are scheduled for 20 October this year, three and a half years late. They were delayed so that the electoral system could be reformed – although what that delay achieved in terms of reforms, is questionable. The country’s first district elections are also still scheduled for the same day, although the Independent Election Commission […]

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