20 August 2009 - 12:01 am: Afghanistan votes today in historic presidential and provincial council elections. The Secretary-General of the United Nations has encouraged all Afghans to vote in the name of the “peace and prosperity of their nation.” For the second time since the fall of the Taliban in 2001, the people of Afghanistan have the chance to choose who will be their president for the next five years.

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On Tuesday at a news conference the Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General for Afghanistan, Kai Eide said the campaign had been dignified and peaceful and he said he was impressed with what he called a “vibrant political debate.”

He appealed to those who were threatening violence to allow Afghans to vote and choose their future leader.

At the start of the campaigning on 16 June 2009 there were forty one presidential candidates and more than 3,000 provincial hopefuls competing for 420 council seats (including 124 reserved for women).

Today around 28,000 polling stations will open at 7 am and will remain open until 4 pm, with the possibility of staying open even longer until the last voters cast their decisions.

For the first time ever Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission has led a huge logistical operation to carry out the preparations for this year’s elections.

A total of more than 36 million ballot papers have been printed for both sets of the elections and today some 160,000 election workers, including 16,000 women, will be carrying out the voting procedures.

The Commission conducted a widespread voter education campaign in some of the most difficult parts of the country with more 1,600 civic educators fanning out with an 11 page flipchart to help people understand the whole process.

In addition a major media campaign involving hundreds of thousands of posters, billboards, television and radio advertising spots, voter education programming and mobile units with loudspeakers has reached millions of people.

More than 4.5 million Afghans were registered to vote for these elections, in addition to some 12.5 million who registered for the 2004 and 2005 elections.

However it is estimated the total number of voters is around 17 million as some registered voters have died, lost their cards or moved from one province to another.

The probability of people having multiple cards has not been ruled out but a number of fraud mitigation measures are in place and all voters will have the nail on their right index finger marked with indelible ink.

With the support of the international community, led by the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and the UN’s elections support project UNDP/ELECT, more than US$ 220 million was raised for the elections process this year, funding which allows for a second presidential round if necessary.

Voting will take place across all 34 provinces today, although there are concerns as to whether all the voting stations will open, especially in the south, where a growing Taliban insurgency has been threatening the polls.

A massive observation mission is underway and it is expected that thousands of observers from Afghan organizations, party agents, political parties, the European Union’s Election Observation Mission, media from around the world and other national and international groups will be monitoring the polls.

Among the leaders for the presidential post are incumbent Hamid Karzai who was elected President in 2004 and former ministers Abdullah Abdullah, Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai and Ramazan Bashardost.

There are two women presidential candidates and 328 women provincial candidates.

Tonight counting starts for the presidential elections and provisional results will be announced by the Independent Election Commission.

By Dominic Medley, UNAMA

Website: Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan

Website: UNDP/ELECT