FREE AND FAIR ELECTION FORUM OF AFGHANISTAN
15 YEARS OF CIVIC SERVICES
FEFA held its electoral forum in Kandahar province
FEFA held Kandahar Electoral Stakeholders Forum on Monday August 13, 2018 at Afghan Aryal Conference Hall. There were 24 electoral stakeholders participants in the Forum. The program officially begun by FEFA project manager Niaz Mohammad Mandozai. He introduced the Electoral Forum and gave insights of the program to the participants. The program participants were IEC representative, ECC head of secretariat, representative of Kandahar Police Office, Civil Society activists, Women and youth activists, Parliamentary Election Nominees and representatives of political parties. The program Participants discussed on couple of electoral matters as in: Election process in Kandahar, voter registration, candidates nomination, women’s contribution in parliamentary and district council election process, concerns on distribution of National ID card, sticker installation and furthermore, the participants criticized the lack of coordination and collaboration of Kandahar local government with IEC and ECC office. ECC head of secretariat Mr. Ashraf Wahdat reported the ECC activities within the past months. He said that ECC has the authority to monitor and observe the election process from the beginning to end, three months back we established our office in Kandahar. In the beginning, we were supposed to send the complains to Kabul for review and verification. Hopefully, we have two commissioners here in Kandahar who will verify the complaints. He added that ECC monitored all election process from registration process in city and districts. We created another commission or committee for monitoring the election process and observing complaints and that commission responsible person is election Director. We received many complaints from districts and the team has been working on those cases. We observe that there are less number of candidates in district council election and in some districts even we do not have female candidates and in some district we do not have candidates at all. In some districts influential didn’t let anyone to nominate themselves for election. The ECC noted all those complaints and has been verifying the cases.
FEFA (Free and Fair Election Forum of Afghanistan)
• IEC representative • ECC head of secretariat • Representative of Kandahar Police Office • Civil Society activists • Women and youth activists • Parliamentary Election Nominees • Representatives of political parties
The program Participants discussed on couple of electoral matters as in: Election process in Kandahar, voter registration, candidates nomination, women’s contribution in parliamentary and district council election process, concerns on distribution of National ID card and sticker installation.
1. District council elections should be postponed. Public awareness is required in this process. All points and procedures of the district council should be arranged and then the elections will be held. 2. To the civil society institutions that monitor the electoral process should be given the right to oversee all centers and not to be restricted to a center. And still have the right to photograph and filming polling stations. 3. Election Commission should raise mass public awareness through the media in order to raise the credibility of the election. 4. The Independent Election Commission and the Electoral Complaints Commission, through an agreement with the justice and judicial authorities through the media and conferences, clarify the electoral law and the consequences of fraud should be shared with the public in order to prevent fraud.
Independent Election Commission representative Mr. Haron Kaliwal declared that the voter registration and sticker installation process on ID cards begun in Hamal 26 and ended in Jowza 26. We have total 567606 citizens in which 292000 are women and 10262 are Kochi. He said that in (Maroof & Nish districts) we didn’t have any voter registration due to security situation. And in Shorabak district only 42 individuals registered, in Reg district only 191 people registered, in Khakriz district only 417 individuals registered for election and in Gholak district only 575 individuals registered. He said there are 225 total centers in Kandahar at all. He further added that we have announced 48 social organizers,18 district manager and till now 1400 people applied for those positions. This time we will take exam by biometric way on Zone level according to new Guideline and result will be announced from Kabul. Beside this we have some TV and Radio advertisements about election for public awareness. IEC representative suggests that in insecure districts, election process has to begin again. People have to register for election in those districts. Furthermore, he suggests that the candidates should have their election observers in all polling center. Kandahar Police Office representative Abdullah Jan said that like the last election, we have proper plan for election days and from now on, we have started special trainings for male and female police officers so that on Election Day they should do well. According to Governor instruction, we will act accordingly. We also have plan for polling centers in Districts that how to control security on election days at polling centers. Suggestions that came up at the meeting: 1. District council elections should be postponed. Public awareness is required in this process. All points and procedures of the district council should be arranged and then the elections will be held. 2. To the civil society institutions that monitor the electoral process should be given the right to oversee all centers and not to be restricted to a center. And still have the right to photograph and filming polling stations. 3. Election Commission should raise mass public awareness through the media in order to raise the credibility of the election. 4. The Independent Election Commission and the Electoral Complaints Commission, through an agreement with the justice and judicial authorities through the media and conferences, clarify the electoral law and the consequences of fraud should be shared with the public in order to prevent fraud.
8/13/2018
24
1 Day
Kandahar
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