16 June 2009 - The official campaign period for Afghanistan’s presidential and provincial council elections starts today.

Forty one presidential hopefuls and more than 3,000 candidates for provincial council seats are competing for the 20 August elections.

On the eve of the campaign beginning the top United Nations official in Afghanistan has stressed the need to ensure that the elections slated for August are credible and that their results are accepted by all, noting that the candidates can contribute to this by campaigning with “dignity and fairness.”

“It is the shared responsibility of all candidates to ensure that these elections strengthen Afghanistan’s democratic institutions and people’s confidence in the democratic process,” said Kai Eide, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative in Afghanistan, in a statement issued in Kabul.

Last week the Independent Election Commission barred three presidential hopefuls and 54 provincial candidates from participating.

Afghanistan last went to the polls in 2005 for parliamentary seats and in 2004 the country’s first post-Taliban presidential elections took place with 18 candidates.

The election was won by Hamid Karzai with 55 per cent of the vote.

The official campaign period ends on 18 August with a blackout following until voting day on 20 August.

Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission is heading up the organization of this year’s elections with assistance from the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and the UN’s elections support project UNDP/ELECT.

This year some 4.5 million new people registered to vote; people who still held their registration cards from 2005 and 2004 did not need to reregister.

It’s estimated there are 13 million registered voters.

Last week a lottery was held for the position of candidates on the ballot papers.

The papers will now be printed and delivery is expected by mid-July.

In the meantime a huge voter education campaign is taking place across the country.

More than 1,600 civic educators are speaking to groups of people across Afghanistan about the election.

A special elections telephone hotline is already receiving up to 25,000 calls a week from a questioning electorate and more than 35,000 Afghan police officers will be trained for their jobs on Election Day.

In the coming weeks polling staff will be recruited and trained, ballot boxes and polling station kits will be sent to the provinces and the finalizing of the locations and numbers of polling stations will be done.

By Dominic Medley, UNAMA

Website: UNDP/ELECT

Website: Afghanistan Independent Election Commission