UN intensifies support amid final preparations for Afghan elections

18 Sep 2010

UN intensifies support amid final preparations for Afghan elections

17 September 2010 - The United Nations has stepped up its technical and logistical support to Afghan electoral authorities as voters prepare to cast their ballots in Saturday’s parliamentary polls, the world body said today.

More than 2,500 candidates, including almost 400 women, are competing for 249 seats in the Wolesi Jirga, or lower house of Afghanistan’s parliament.

The Afghan Independent Election Commission (IEC) spent Friday completing final logistics preparations for the polls, including loading and transferring ballot boxes, ballot papers and voter-marking ink to the almost 6,000 polling centres across the country’s 34 provinces.

The IEC has accredited at least 360,000 observers, including candidate agents, who will observe the elections. They include 84,000 women, more than 7,000 national civil society observers and over 1,000 international observers.

Staffan de Mistura, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative and head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (<"http://unama.unmissions.org/default.aspx?/">UNAMA), has stressed the importance of the measures being taken by the IEC to improve the electoral process, following last year’s presidential polls which were marred by fraud.

“The electoral authorities have learned many lessons from the experience of last year, in particular in improving their systems to prevent massive fraud. These elections will not be perfect, but I am hopeful that they will be better than last year’s election,” he said yesterday during a visit with provincial leaders and tribal elders in the southern city of Kandahar.

UNAMA, which is providing technical support at the request of the Afghan Government, added that security remains a major concern. Earlier this week, two IEC staff members were killed, allegedly by the Taliban, in the Charbolak district of Balkh province.

In addition, the Taliban reportedly claimed today that it has kidnapped 30 campaign workers, election officials and even a candidate for the elections.

Afghan national security forces, police and military are taking the lead role in securing tomorrow’s polls.