UN
The election donkeys in one of Afghanistan’s provinces
17 August 2009 - One and a half hours north outside Afghanistan’s capital city of Kabul is the peaceful province of Parwan.
There are 324,000 registered voters here for the forthcoming presidential and provincial council elections on 20 August.
And here, despite its proximity to modern Kabul, the Independent Election Commission is using more than 300 donkeys to transport essential ballot boxes and papers for the elections.
Parwan, a province with 10 districts is now carrying out the final efforts in the preparations for the elections.
“So far we have received all election materials from Kabul. In remote areas, the election materials will be delivered from a warehouse to a district hub with various numbers of convoys from one to five. Then district field coordinators will hand over materials to the polling centre managers. One day before the election, all materials will be distributed to the polling station,” said Sultan Mohammad Niyazi, provincial election office in Parwan.
Donkeys being used for elections in Afghanistan always attract international attention, but in Parwan they are just part of everyday life.
From one truck five donkeys jumped out for officials to start loading the ballot boxes and papers and other election materials on the backs of the donkeys.
Nearby village elders offered their expert advice on how to load up the donkeys and children played around.
For most of the donkeys they’ll have a minimum four hours journey to the polling centres carry around 62 kilograms on their backs.
“We have met people face to face in the province, villages and districts. Civic educators gathered people and explained to them the process of the elections and encouraged them to vote. People here are ready to take part in the elections,” Mr Niyazi added.
Even though things are on the track, not everything is predictable. On the recruitment of female staff in Parwan Mr Niyazi said: “There were two districts that do not have female staff, we recruited elders instead. No females from other districts are ready to work in those two districts because of the security problem.”
On polling day, the Afghan National Police will provide 68 officers to secure the elections in Parwan, the International Security Assistance Force will patrol as well and the Afghan National Army is on standby.
By Kangying Guo, UNAMA
