KABUL - With less than two weeks to the polls to elect a new Parliament, the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) highlights that taking part in elections is a citizen’s right enshrined in the Afghan Constitution and a basic human right for all people.

“Afghan men and women have a basic human right to freely choose their government and leaders,” said Tadamichi Yamamoto, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Afghanistan and UNAMA head. “It is critical that all actors in Afghan society do everything within their power to safeguard this fundamental right so that citizens can cast their vote without obstruction, threat or intimidation.”

Afghanistan is slated to hold parliamentary elections on 20 October.

The country’s Constitution states that citizens have a fundamental right to “elect and be elected” and also states that elections should be conducted through “free, general, secret and direct balloting.”

Afghanistan voted in favour of the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which states that all people have the right to take part in their government, directly or through freely chosen representatives, and that they have the right of equal access to public service in their country.