Introduction
IFES has worked in Afghanistan since 2002, supporting electoral law development, voter registration, election logistics, results reporting, poll worker training, media monitoring, civic education and other long-term capacity building programs.
IFES aims to build upon the momentum within Afghan society to advance political and electoral processes, however incrementally, and to channel desires for change into organized, peaceful, and legitimate action.
Given the extensive experience that IFES has in implementing electoral assistance and education programming in transitional environments, our organization has a keen understanding of how political sensitivities and a fluid environment require a highly adaptive and flexible approach.
Electoral Context
After the fall of the Taliban in late 2001, and under the roadmap established at the 2001 Bonn Agreement, Afghan leaders undertook the important first steps of institutionalizing representative government throughout the war-torn country. Of significant importance in this process was the planning and preparation for elections at both the national and provincial levels.
In 2004, under the direction of the Joint Election Management Board (JEMB), millions of Afghan citizens voted in the country’s first presidential elections. Although there were threats to boycott and reports of fraud, Hamid Karzai won the election with over 55% of the vote and became the first President of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan.
On September 18, 2005, Afghan citizens again went to the polls for their first round of Parliamentary and Provincial Council elections, which were again conducted by the JEMB. The turnout was estimated at nearly 50%, a slightly lower percentage than the overall total in 2004. The results of this election saw over a quarter of the seats being allocated to females in a contest that was generally deemed free and fair.
After the 2005 election, the Afghan government assumed responsibility for electoral management from the transitional JEMB. The new electoral body, called the Independent Election Commission (IEC), was immediately tasked to oversee the 2009 Presidential and District Council Elections.
These elections were carried out on August 20, 2009 in the well-publicized contest between Hamid Karzai and his main opponent, Abdullah Abdullah. After the IEC’s Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) invalidated over 1 million ballots due to fraud or other irregularities, neither candidate obtained a simple majority of the votes needed to win outright in the first round. Shortly thereafter, Abdullah Abdullah decided to pull out of the run-off election, which left Hamid Karzai as the winner of the presidential election.
As Afghanistan approaches the 2010 Parliamentary elections in September, there has been a tremendous national and international effort to learn from past mistakes and implement the changes needed to carry out a fair and legitimate election. Again, the Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan has taken the lead role in this effort, with a particular focus on preventing the fraud and intimidation of previous elections.
Projects
Support to the Electoral Process in Afghanistan (STEP)
In 2008, IFES was awarded the Support to the Electoral Process in Afghanistan (STEP) contract by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Through this contract, IFES has been tasked with providing technical assistance to Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission (IEC). The four primary objectives of the STEP project are 1) carrying out long-term capacity building of the IEC, 2) election administration support, 3) voter registration support and 4) logistics and operational planning.
Support for Increased Electoral Participation
Along with the STEP project, IFES implements the program, Support for Increased Electoral Participation in Afghanistan, under the Consortium for Elections and Political Process Strengthening (CEPPS) cooperative agreement and is funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Its goals are to educate voters on elections and democracy and promote credible election processes. It focuses on civic education through trainings and workshops for women, journalists, and university students and through mass media campaigns. The program is also implementing a campaign finance expenditure monitoring program connected to the upcoming 2010 parliamentary election campaign.