FREE AND FAIR ELECTION FORUM OF AFGHANISTAN
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Second round electoral stakeholders forum (Herat)
FEFA conducted the second Electoral Stakeholders Forum in Herat province on Wednesday Sep. 5, 2018 at Esteghlal Hotel. There were 26 participants in the forum. The participants in this forum were electoral organizations as in IEC and ECC provincial offices, Civil Society activists, political party representatives, candidates, university professors, Women's rights activists, representatives from the Police Office, media representatives and government officials. The program began with recitation of Holy Quran, introducing the program and brief introduction of the FEFA activities. Subsequently, each member of the panel started to talk according to the agenda. At the outset, Ezzatullah Alami, a representative of the Election Commission, while reminding the previous functions of the commission, also shared their suggestions and ideas: (We were able to register 550,000 voters and also registered 161 Parliamentary Candidates in Herat province, of which 28 are women, as well as 321 members of the district council, which 19 of them are women. In 10 districts, there is no female candidate. We do not have any registrations in 2 districts for security reasons. We also received 3600 appeals in recruitment of Election Day staff members, while we only need 160 employees. He added that the next thing that the commission will do is issuing credentials to representatives of candidates and observers. He also added that we are not able to conduct both elections (Parliamentary and District Councils). In the end, he called for the assistance and cooperation of the electoral authorities to promote the Elections. Then Mr. Isar, a representative of the Provincial Council, said that we want to have a transparent election at a specified time. He reminded the previous round of elections and expressed his concerns on that. Meanwhile, he condemned the work of election commissions in the previous round. He emphasized for a transparent and accountable election and considered the parliamentary and district council elections very essential.
FEFA
• IEC • ECC • Civil Society Activists • Political Party Representatives • Candidates • University Professors • Women's Rights Activists • Police Office Representatives • Media Representatives • Government Officials
The participants discussed regarding electoral transparency and the mechanisms under taken to enhance it
• A registration site should be active until the Election Day so that the site is not currently active in Herat. • During the next sessions, Mullahs (Clergy/ Religious personal) and the lawyers should be invited to receive comments. • FEFA's efforts to successfully conduct district council elections. • Considering future academic contexts. • Identifying the candidates to the national security office for security stages. • Avoiding drug mafias and irresponsible people in election affairs. • Extending the voter registration process.
FEFA conducted the second Electoral Stakeholders Forum on Sep. 5, 2018 in Herat province along with IEC, ECC, candidates, university professors and other stakeholders to consider the electoral transparency issues. According to previous round of election, each participant emphasized to enhance the electoral transparency. Therefore they suggest that registration sites should be active until the Polling Day. In addition, 100 complaints are reregistered with ECC out of which 17 are considerable, whereas ECC committed to address the issues properly.
Mohammad Anwar Matin, a representative of the Provincial Office called for new recruitment of (District Field Coordinators), which had been involved in fraud in the previous election. The current Electoral Program brings transparency into the electoral process, and this process prevents corruption so that no one can vote for the second and third times. The election commission must win the confidence of the people of Afghanistan. The electoral commission and the electoral authorities should not be victimized by the interests of the warlords and drug mafias. Later, Mr. Dowlati, the head of Complaints Commission said that the Complaints Commission has been constant since 1395, which has been suspending for about three months, during which 100 complaints and appeals were filed in the commission, with 17 serious complaints and before the campaign, these complaints will be handled. In the end, he called for people to cooperate in the area of information and filing complaints to this department. Mr Marof Khairi, the representative of the Afghanistan Civil Registry Authority (ACRA), in cooperation with the PMU or mobile teams, distributed 10 million Tazkeras overall Afghanistan. The distribution was carried out from 72 teams on the basis of the demand of the districts and their neighbors from 2 teams to 7 teams. Subsequently, Mohammad Sadeq Akbari, from the PMU Office or the T-Mobile, said that the Office has been able to distribute 320000 Tazkera in Herat to accelerate the process of distribution. This office has started from 2/2/1397, and this process (distribution of the Tazkera) will continue until 30/9/1397. Participants' suggestions for improving the program are as follows: • A registration site should be active until the Polling Day so that the site is not currently active in Herat. • During the next sessions, Mullahs (Clergy/ Religious personal) and the lawyers should be invited to receive comments. • FEFA's efforts to successfully conduct district council elections. • Considering future academic contexts. • Identifying the candidates to the national security office for security stages. • Avoiding drug mafias and irresponsible people in election affairs. • Extending the voter registration process.
9/5/2018
26
1 day
Herat
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