Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Fabrizio Foschini

The President’s Verdict: No Parliament till mid-February

Fabrizio Foschini • Gran Hewad • Thomas Ruttig •

On a remarkably busy winter day, the dreams of many former participant in the past September elections to take up her/his job in Parliament soon were shattered by the President’s ruling to delay the house’s inauguration for another month. Meanwhile, the opposite hopes of a multitude of ‘disappointed candidates’ – i.e. the losers of 18 […]

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Because the Night Belongs to Raiders: Special ops in Nangrahar

Fabrizio Foschini •

The first days of 2011 have already been dotted with reports of renewed night raids by US special forces turning lethal for civilians, as the ones in Ghazni and Kunduz apparently were. The resentment these operations stir up among Afghans countrywide seems likely to wipe out any possible military benefit deriving from them. The negative […]

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2010 Elections (40): A clear mess in the Land of the Light

Fabrizio Foschini •

Since Saturday it has become possible to do some real number crunching and to get a detailed analysis of the election results, after the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) finally uploaded the polling results per polling station. For weeks, the web page displayed an ‘Internal Server Error’ message, but a phone call to a senior IEC […]

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2010 Elections (35): How the West was won

Fabrizio Foschini •

The controversial final results of the parliamentary elections are out, and it is time to look at the impact of the decisions made by the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC), even though it is still not clear to what extent the Attorney General’s interventions will be able to affect the final tally. AAN analyst Fabrizio Foschini […]

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2010 Election 25: The ECC, one district a time?

Fabrizio Foschini •

The Electoral Complaints Commission is there after all. Beyond the criticism it has received, beyond the obscurity which surrounded its recent activities, beyond the fears of it being reduced – after last year’s confrontation – to a rubber-stamp body not willing to pick up a fight with strongmen if needed. The decision to invalidate all […]

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2010 Elections 23: The Wardak election in AP3’s shadow

Fabrizio Foschini •

A close look at the electoral result sheets published online by the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) allows observers to get an idea of how elections went countrywide. The results for Wardak, where the number of polling centres (PC) this year was higher than during the past elections, reveal some problematic trends, raising the question whether […]

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2010 Elections 22: IEC delays preliminary final result

Fabrizio Foschini • Thomas Ruttig •

Not surprisingly, the Afghan Independent Election Commission has given the ECC a bit more time to work on the almost 4,000 complaints that have come in until now. But there are concerns about the ability of the ECC to work on them, given the very low speed with which it gives out precise information – […]

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2010 Elections 17: A tense electoral run in Takhar

Fabrizio Foschini •

The first, very partial election results in Takhar have appeared on the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) website. This offers the opportunity to go back to notes taken on a field trip over election-day, and present them along with our perceptions of the situation in the province. By AAN researchers Fabrizio Foschini and Obaidullah Ali. The […]

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2010 Elections 11: A cab ride through Herat voting

Fabrizio Foschini •

Impressions from one of the biggest and richest Afghan cities where high turnout and low levels of fraud were expected highlight how the appearance of a highly organized election can distract from the fault-lines all around: just few kilometres out of the nicely accessible Herat city centre, a whole slew of fraud techniques were being […]

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2010 Elections 1: Facts and Figures

Fabrizio Foschini •

With less than a week left before 18 September, we would like to summarize the major facts and figures that relate to the upcoming parliamentary election. The total number of candidates standing in this year’s election is 2502. The number of candidates whose names appeared on the 34 final provincial candidates list (plus one for […]

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Campaign Trail 8: A multipolar election in the Afghan West 2

Fabrizio Foschini •

The second part of an analysis on elections in Herat province mainly deals with how candidates campaign and their worries about the increased insecurity as well as possibilities of fraud in the upcoming elections. AAN analyst Fabrizio Foschini tried to gather their opinions and confront them with reported facts. One candidate still considered to be […]

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Campaign Trail 8: A multipolar election in the Afghan West 1

Fabrizio Foschini •

Herat is the second largest province of the country and the most populous after the capital. Its importance is reflected in the considerable number of parliamentary seats it is allocated, 17, and the outcome of the forthcoming elections will thus significantly contribute to defining the new parliament’s outlook. Through interviews with candidates, officials and other […]

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