Thematic Area: Democratic Governance
Project Document of ELECT Project
Evaluation Report
ELECT Factsheets
Progress Report Quarter 3 2011
Annual Progress Report 2010
Progress Report Quarter 3 2010
Progress Report Quarter 1/2 2010
Annual Progress Report 2009
Progress Report Quarter 3 2009
Progress Report Quarter 2 2009
Progress Report Quarter 1 2009
Annual Report 2008
Progress Report Quarter 1 2008
Progress Report Quarter 2 2008
Progress Report Quarter 3 2008
Progress Report Quarter 1 2007
Progress Report Quarter 2 2007
Progress Report Quarter 3 2007
Annual Report 2007
Annual Report 2006
[Last Updated March 2011]
Enhancing Legal and Electoral Capacity for Tomorrow (ELECT)
UNDP ELECT is a vehicle through which the international community supports Afghan electoral authorities to plan and conduct elections.
ANDS Pillar 2 and Kabul Communique Focus Area
Governance, Rule of Law, and Human Rights
Proposed Budget
$380 mil USD
Resources*
$378 mil USD
Implementing Partners
Independent Election Commission (IEC) Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC)
Donors
Australia, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Denmark, European Union, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxem-bourg, Netherlands, Norway States, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, UK, UNDEF, UNDP and USA
Project Overview
The primary objective of United Nations electoral assistance to Afghanistan is to support the efforts of Afghan electoral authorities to prepare and conduct credible elections in an insecure and socio-politically unstable environment. Since its inception, the project has evolved to accommodate changing circumstances, needs and capacity of Afghan people.
In 2010, ELECT supported 3 main priorities:
- Support to the IEC to conduct a limited voter registration top-up as required for the 2010 election; and capacity-development through the provision of technical and op-erational assistance for the 2010 election;
- Capacity-development through technical and operational support to the ECC, to manage their responsibilities in the conduct of the 2010 election; and
- Support to long-term electoral reform and capacity-development of the electoral management bodies.
- The first two priorities are now complete. The third is in ini-tial stages and will be developed to address needs identified by an assessment mission, as a basis for activities in 2011 and beyond.
Context
Years of conflict have damaged Afghanistan’s eco-nomic, political, physical, social and institutional structures.
Afghanistan ranks 174 out of 178 countries in the UN Human Development Index. GDP per capita is USD 964. Conflict-related civilian deaths rose by 15 percent between 2009 and 2010; and 75 percent of these were linked to anti-government elements.
While the majority of Afghans express confidence in national army and police forces, only around half are confident in government institutions. More than a third do not express their opinions, due to fear; about a quarter feel threatened by the Taliban and the same proportion feels that it has no influence over the decisions made by government.*
Credible leadership and strong institutions are nec-essary for stability and a precursor to reconstruction and development.
Key Results 2010
- On 18 September 2010, UNDP supported Afghanistan’s Independent Election Commission (IEC) to organize and de-liver the first ever Afghan-led parliamentary elections across 35 constituencies throughout the country. This marks a significant achievement toward the democratic gov-ernance of Afghanistan.
- Almost 400,000 new voters; 2,500 candidates; and 380,000 observers and electoral agents were registered.
- An approximate 4 million voters cast their ballots on Elec-tion Day.
- The participation of women – who face greater security and cultural constraints than men – is particularly notable. More than 40 percent of voters were women.
- Although women stood to gain only one third of seats in the Parliament and faced greater security risks than in 2005, they accounted for 15.4 percent of candidates. Moreover, while 25 percent of seats in Parliament were reserved for women, an even greater proportion of seats (27 percent) were won.
- More than 7,500 women assisted at polling stations as “searchers.” Aside from enabling women to enter polling stations without fear or posing threat, this meant that women were empowered to be employed and to play active roles in the holding of elections.
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UNDP ELECT also supported the Electoral Complaints Com-mission (ECC), an independent complaints adjudication mechanism whose decisions are binding. The ECC invest-igated complaints received on and after polling day, signifi-cantly reducing distortions as results were calculated.
Afghan Leadership Recognised
A defining element in UNDP’s approach to elec-tions is that Afghans should take a lead role. In addition to responsibility for key decisions, Afghan national electoral authorities served as both national and international spokespeople, making statements, briefing the media, and providing stakeholders with regular infor-mation updates throughout the 2010 Parlia-mentary elections.
Explains one international observer:
“Both the IEC and ECC, particularly the IEC, were much more proactive in getting the mes-sage out about their activities this year. I had thought it might be difficult to get clear and timely status updates from the responsible electoral bodies – but that was not the case at all. Even when the news wasn’t necessarily what stakeholders wanted to hear, Afghan elec-toral authorities were forthcoming with re-quested information.”
ELECT Contacts
Carolyn Williams
Communication Specialist
carolyn.williams@undp.org
Tel: +93 (0) 793 446 045
Shahadat Chowdhury
Project Coordinator
shahadat.chowdhury@undp.org
Denis Mutabazi
Monitoring and Reporting Officer
denis.mutabazi@undp.org
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