Afghanistan Analysts Network – English

Posts tagged: voter registration

voter registration

Herat city is adorned with campaign posters - here in Tank-e Markaz Square – but the further you go out into the districts, the more campaigning diminishes in the face of insurgency and insecurity (Photo: Said Reza Kazemi: October 2018)

Afghanistan Elections Conundrum (18): A lively election campaign amid growing insecurity in Herat

S Reza Kazemi •

There is a vibrant electoral atmosphere in Herat city and nearby district centres. Rival political forces have brought supporters onto the streets to show their power and candidates have opened campaign headquarters and engaged in a range of heated campaign activities. In the midst of the bustle, there are also concerns over a series of […]

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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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Afghanistan Election Conundrum (13): New voter registry too good to be true

Scott Warden •

One of the main goals of Afghanistan launching a new voter registration process – a key provision of the 2014 National Unity Government Agreement – was to more accurately match the number of ballot papers to the number of voters in any given area. It was hoped this would reduce the opportunities for ballot stuffing. […]

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The Afghanistan Election Conundrum (8): Controversies over voter registration

Ali Yawar Adili • Thomas Ruttig •

As the Independent Election Commission (IEC) struggles to prepare for parliamentary and district council elections due to be held on 20 October 2018, one key prerequisite – voter registration – is not going well. Registration turnout, so far, has been very low, in part, due to security fears stemming from a new system aimed at […]

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One of these men will lead Afghanistan

AAN •

Global Post, 4 April 2014 In an article introducing the candidates for the upcoming Afghan election, AAN's Martine van Bijlert is quoted about voter registration:  “Afghanistan does not have a voter registry; nor does it have any kind of reliable population database,” writes Martine van Bijlert, of the Kabul-based Afghanistan Analysts Network. “This means that nobody knows […]

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Afghanistan goes to polls, amidst uncertainty and violence

AAN •

Reuters/The Nation (Pakistan), 3 April 2014 Reuters picks a quote from Martine van Bijlert's AAN election primers: "Afghanistan's electoral system is so badly hampered by fraud, insecurity, and institutional weakness that there is no effective way of knowing what the 'true' vote is," the Afghanistan Analysts Network said in a research note this week.   […]

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Election Interest Surges in Taleban-Free [Andar] District

AAN •

IWPR, 2 April 2014 "In one district of Afghanistan where a popular public uprising succeeded in ejecting the Taleban, people have thrown themselves wholeheartedly into preparations for the upcoming elections. The last time elections were held in Andar district in the southern province of Ghazni, just three ballots were cast. But the long lines of […]

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What to Watch in the Elections (1): Voter registration

Martine van Bijlert •

Elections in Afghanistan can be overwhelming, surreal and utterly confusing, even for those who have followed the politics of the country for a long time. To bring those who were not here during previous elections up to speed, and to remind those who may have forgotten the details of what it was like, AAN’s Martine […]

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A Slow Start: Afghan voter registration in urban centres first

Obaid Ali • Ali M Latifi •

On 25 May 2013, voter registration for the 2014 presidential election officially kicked off throughout Afghanistan. Female registration has been slow, even though the process is for the moment limited to the provincial capitals. Also general turn-out has been quite low and the process has proven to be cumbersome. It is however still very early […]

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