Parliamentary election in Afghanistan 2018

The parliamentary elections in Afghanistan in 2018 took place on October 20 and in some cases on October 21, 2018 . The lower house of the Afghan bicameral parliament, the Wolesi Jirga, was elected . The election took place three years later than originally planned.

prehistory

President Ashraf Ghani

Prime Minister Abdullah Abdullah

The previous parliamentary election in Afghanistan took place on September 18, 2010. According to the Afghan constitution, parliamentary elections are planned every five years. The reason why the election did not take place until three years later was that there were long-standing differences over the mode of voting.

In 2014, after the presidential election in Afghanistan, there were disputes over the election winner between the two main opponents, Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani . While Abdullah was 13 percent ahead of Ghani in the first election round, Ghani surprisingly achieved a majority in the runoff election. The followers of Abdullah refused to recognize this result and suspected electoral fraud. The electoral process was also criticized by international observers as extremely inadequate and characterized by multiple electoral fraud. Election fraud had been committed by various quarters, but Ghani had benefited most from it. Ultimately, after mediation by US Secretary of State John Kerry , both adversaries agreed on a division of executive power. Ashraf Ghani became president and Abdullah Abdullah became prime minister - an office that did not exist before as the president himself was in charge of government. The newly formed government was a coalition government made up of various political groups. With the nominal agreement, however, the issues were not resolved, but continued in the new government. Ghani's supporters complained that they had been forced into a coalition government through political blackmail, as the Abdullah supporters would otherwise threaten unrest. The followers of Abdullah claimed to have been deprived of the election victory through electoral fraud. Due to the disagreement, important positions such as the Defense Minister, the Attorney General and the presiding judge at the Supreme Court of Afghanistan remained vacant for a long time, as no common candidates could be found.

The right to vote in parliament also became a central issue. The coalition government largely agreed that the previous electoral system of non-transferable individual voting (SNTV) should be replaced. In the SNTV electoral system, voters cast a single vote for a candidate in a constituency in which multiple candidates are elected. In contrast to the voting system in one-person constituencies, the SNTV electoral system theoretically also enables minorities to be represented (in a five-person constituency the candidate with the fifth highest number of votes is also elected). But it depends very much on the number of candidates. If a large number of individuals are running, a very small number of votes may be enough to be elected. In the 2005 parliamentary elections , for example, this meant that 21 of the 33 MPs elected in Kabul Province each received less than 1 percent of the vote. In the 2010 general election , the leading candidate in this constituency received just 3.6 percent of the vote. According to political analysts, the SNTV electoral system also hindered the formation of national political parties and favored candidates representing regional and ethnic interests.

There was no consensus within the government on how the electoral reform should be carried out and under whose direction it should be carried out. A simple majority vote in single-person constituencies was preferred by some . However, this model posed some problems, for example with regard to the mandatory quota for women. After the end of the five-year legislative period was getting closer and there was no agreement on the electoral process in sight, President Ghani extended Parliament's term of office until further notice on June 16, 2015 by presidential decree. The constitutionality of this act, however, has been questioned.

In September 2016, the government agreed on a new electoral law, which, however, was formulated very vaguely in some aspects and therefore left many questions unanswered. In November 2016, a new Independent Electoral Commission was appointed to organize future elections.

Electoral process

Elected MPs by province

The Wolesi Jirga has 250 members. 10 seats are reserved for nomads, the Kuchi , and another seat for the Sikh and Hindu communities in Afghanistan. The 239 MPs elected in the provinces are distributed among the provinces as follows:

Badachschan 9
Badghis 4
Baglan 8
Balch 11
Bamiyan 4
Chost 5
Daikondi 4
Juzdschan 5
Farah 5
Faryab 9
Ghazni 11
Ghor 6
Helmand 8
Herat 17
Kabul 33
Kandahar 11
Kapisa 4
Kunar 4
Kunduz 9
Laghman 4
Lugar 4
Nangarhar 14
Nimrus 2
Nuristan 2
Paktia 5
Paktika 4
Punjschir 2
Parwan 6
Samangan 4
Sar-i Pul 5
Tachar 9
Urusgan 3
Wardak 5
Zabul 3

All Afghans who were at least 18 years of age and who had registered for the election were eligible to vote. Registration was based on a newly introduced biometric system to prevent election fraud. Voters were electronically registered using a photo and fingerprint, and their identity was verified again using electronic devices when voting. According to the electoral commission, 8,918,107 people (3,067,918 women and 5,681,592 men) registered between April 14 and July 6, 2018. This corresponded to about three-quarters of the estimated 12 million potentially eligible voters.

After there were delays due to the biometric voter identification and not all polling stations were able to open in time, the Independent Electoral Commission extended the period in which the voters could cast their votes, in some cases until the following day (October 21, 2018). The turnout was estimated to be at least 3 million on October 20, 2018, which was rated as relatively high in view of the multiple problems and the tense security situation.

The election in Kandahar province was postponed for a week after the provincial police chief, the chief intelligence officer of Kandahar and a journalist were killed in an attack by the radical Islamic Taliban on October 18, 2018 in the governor's palace in Kandahar . The governor of Kandahar Province was also seriously injured. On October 27, 2018, elections were also held in Kandahar. Despite threats from the Taliban, there were no major incidents.

Percentage of women in registered voters by province (national average: 34.4%)

Registered voters by provinces

No	province	Men	Women	Kuchi	Hindus / Sikhs	total
1	Kabul	1,033,560	534.274	71.506	269	1639.609
2	Parwan	141.054	73.161	1,167	0	215,382
3	Lugar	62,328	23,345	10,298	0	95,971
4th	Kapisa	103,447	44,640	13,651	0	161,738
5	Punjjir	44,355	31,817	0	0	76.172
6th	Wardak	103,870	28,419	2,046	0	134,335
7th	Balch	238,327	193.106	4,906	0	436,339
8th	Juzjan	47,028	63,396	223	0	110,647
9	Faryab	108,333	83,372	38	0	191,743
10	Sar-i Pul	68,643	66.126	964	0	135,733
11	Samangan	69,793	60,042	60	0	129,895
12	Kandahar	483,749	73,595	10,262	2	567,608
13	Zabul	55,768	9,801	4,558	0	70.127
14th	Urusgan	56,403	2,651	254	0	59,308
15th	Helmand	266.496	39,249	2,858	5	308,608
16	Nimrus	65,538	29,377	654	0	95,569
17th	Paktia	230,564	159,647	4,629	0	394.840
18th	Paktika	147.042	36.209	3,360	0	186,611
19th	Chost	181.987	64.210	5,896	6th	252.099
20th	Ghazni	34,434	21,357	2,081	79	57,951
21st	Herat	306.820	246,478	1,672	0	554.970
22nd	Farah	43,098	23,390	579	0	67,067
23	Ghor	85,090	53,537	151	0	138,778
24	Badghis	50,199	26,732	2.125	0	79.056
25th	Kunduz	113.009	63,225	149	0	176.383
26th	Badakhshan	182,900	132,365	210	0	315,475
27	Tachar	160.234	140,530	335	0	301.099
28	Baghlan	247,958	174,647	7,568	43	430.216
29	Bamiyan	82,061	83,802	0	0	165.863
30th	Daikondi	76,562	93,478	1	0	170.041
31	Nangarhar	525.072	255.301	11,535	174	792.082
32	Kunar	106.080	60,983	345	0	167,408
33	Nuristan	48,522	26,474	0	0	74.996
34	Laghman	111,267	49.182	3,934	5	164,388
total		5,681,591	3,067,918	168.015	583	8.918.107

Candidates and parties

2565 candidates (2148 men, 417 women) applied for the election. 205 candidates (around 8%) were declared members of political parties and the rest were non-party. The following table lists the most important parties.

Political parties

Surname	Party leader	image	Ideological orientation	Mandates won in 2010
Jamiat-i Islāmi (Islamic Association) جمعيت اسلامی افغانستان	Salahuddin Rabbani		Islamist	23
Islamic Unity Party of Afghanistan حزب وحدت اسلامی افقانستان	Hajji Mohammed Mohaqiq		Hazara Interest Party	11
Islamic Unity Party (Hezb-e Wahdat) حزب وحدت	Karim Chalili		Shiite Islamist (Hazara)	7th
Republican Party (Hezb-e Jamhuri) حزب جمهوری خواهان افغانستان	Sebghatullah Sanjar		liberal-secularist	9
National Islamic Movement (Junbisch-i Melli-yi Islāmi-ye) جنبش ملی اسلامی افغانستان	Abdul Raschid Dostum		secularist Uzbek party	10

Security situation

Security situation by district in 2017:

Completely under Taliban control

At least 2 attacks per week

Min. 3 strokes per month

1 attack every 3 months

Completely under government control

The notoriously tense security situation is a serious problem. In the quarterly report of the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR ) of July 30, 2018, 229 of the 407 districts of Afghanistan were under government control (74 under direct government control, 155 under their influence), 59 under Taliban control and the remaining 119 fought between government forces and Taliban. The corresponding numbers for the population were 65%, 12% and 23%. The Taliban called for a boycott of what they described as a foreign conspiracy. According to local media reports, around 70,000 members of the security forces were deployed on election day to ensure that the election went smoothly. Since July 2018, 10 candidates have been killed in violent clashes or attacks. On election day, there was a suicide attack in Kabul that killed 15 people (5 police officers and 10 civilians). According to government figures, there were around 200 attacks across the country on election day, with 36 fatalities, including 27 civilians. The following day, on which there was also some voting, a bomb exploded on a roadside in Achin district in Nangarhar province , killing 11.

Results

The first preliminary results of the election were expected on November 20, 2018. However, the entire count dragged on for half a year until mid-May 2019.

In December 2018, the IECC Independent Electoral Complaints Commission invalidated all votes cast in Kabul Province. The reasons given included massive election fraud and poor implementation of the election by the Independent Electoral Commission.

In February 2019, the winners were confirmed for only about a third of the 250 seats in parliament. The election results for the province of Kabul were only announced on May 15, 2019.

The new parliament was opened on April 26, 2019. 33 of the 249 seats were initially unoccupied as there were allegations of electoral fraud in the room. So far (as of June 2019) the Independent Election Commission has not published any results that would allow MPs to be assigned to political parties. The published individual results again showed the effect of the SNTV electoral system, insofar as candidates with a very low percentage of votes were also elected. For example, in the constituency of Kabul, the candidate with the lowest number of votes received 1149 votes (0.2 percent).

Individual evidence

1. ^ Joseph Goldstein: EU Confirms Wide Fraud in Afghan Presidential Runoff Election. In: nytimes.com. December 16, 2014, accessed October 20, 2018 . 
2. ↑ Nafay Choudhury: The Illusion of Afghanistan's Upcoming Parliamentary Elections. In: The Diplomat. October 17, 2018, accessed October 21, 2018 . 
3. ^ Mujib Mashal: Afghan Parliament's Term Is Extended After Squabbles Delay Elections. In: The New York Times. July 19, 2015, accessed October 20, 2018 . 
4. ^ Ali Yawar Adili, Martine van Bijlert: Afghanistan's Incomplete New Electoral Law: Changes and controversies. In: reliefweb.int. January 22, 2017, accessed October 20, 2018 . 
5. ↑ AFGHANISTAN Wolesi Jirga (House of the People). Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), 2016, accessed on June 23, 2019 . 
6. ^ Concern about voting system ahead of Afghanistan election. al Jazeera, September 30, 2018, accessed October 21, 2018 . 
7. ^ Afghans Vote In Parliamentary Elections. Radio Free Afghanistan (Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty), October 20, 2018, accessed on October 21, 2018 (English, video showing the electronic biometric devices in action). 
8. ^ Ali Yawar Adili: Afghanistan Elections Conundrum (21): Biometric verification likely to spawn host of new problems. October 19, 2018, accessed on October 21, 2018 (English, detailed description of the biometric recording). 
9. ↑ Hamza Mohamed: Afghanistan extends voting after polling stations fail to open. al Jazeera, October 21, 2018, accessed October 21, 2018 . 
10. ↑ Afghanistan election: Voters defy violence to cast ballots. BBC News, October 21, 2018, accessed October 21, 2018 . 
11. ↑ Afghanistan: Kandahar police chief killed in attack. In: tagesspiegel.de . October 18, 2018, accessed October 18, 2018 . 
12. ↑ Kandahar's chief of police killed in attack in southern Afghanistan. In: Welt Online . October 18, 2018, accessed October 18, 2018 . 
13. ^ The Afghan province of Kandahar caught up with parliamentary elections too late. Der Standard, October 27, 2018, accessed October 28, 2018 . 
14. ↑ ^{a b} Voter Registration Statistics from 34 provinces 2018. (No longer available online.) Electoral Commission of Afghanistan, archived from the original on October 20, 2018 ; accessed on October 20, 2018 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
15. ↑ ^{a b c} Shereena Qazi, Alia Chughtai: Afghanistan's elections: All you need to know. al Jazeera, October 19, 2018, accessed October 20, 2018 . 
16. ↑ Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (Ed.): QUARTERLY REPORT TO THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS . July 30, 2018, p. 68-69 (English, pdf ).
17. ^ Election in Kandahar, Afghanistan postponed after the attack. Reuters, October 19, 2018, accessed October 21, 2018 . 
18. ↑ Deadly suicide bomber strikes polling station in Afghan capital. al Jazeera, October 20, 2018, accessed October 21, 2018 . 
19. ↑ Afghanistan: Roadside bomb blast kills 11 in Nangarhar's Achin. al Jazeera, October 21, 2018, accessed October 23, 2018 . 
20. ^ Hamza Mohamed: Polls close in Afghanistan's long-delayed parliamentary elections. al Jazeera, October 21, 2018, accessed October 23, 2018 . 
21. ↑ 2018 Afghanistan - Wolesi Jirga Elections. Electoral Commission of Afghanistan, accessed June 16, 2019 . 
22. ^ All votes in Kabul are invalid. Tagesschau (ARD) , December 6, 2018, accessed on December 16, 2018 . 
23. ↑ David Zucchino, Fahim Abed: Afghan Government Fires Election Officials After Votes Tainted by Fraud Claims. The New York Times, February 12, 2019, accessed June 16, 2019 . 
24. ^ IEC announces final parliamentary election results for Kabul. Khaama Press, May 15, 2019, accessed June 16, 2019 . 
25. ^ Afghan parliament sworn in months after fraud-tainted vote. al Jazeera, April 29, 2019, accessed June 23, 2019 . 
26. ↑ Kabul - Wolesi Jirga Final Results. Independent Electoral Commission, May 15, 2019, accessed June 23, 2019 .