Noticias

Despite the Independent Election Commission’s (IEC) emphasis on its employees being the subject of fewer complaints in the second round than they were in the first, according to the Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) on Monday, election employees are the main focus of the complaints it has so far received.

Officials from the Ministry of Interior (MoI) and Ministry of Defense (MoD) have highlighted their success in preventing militants from disrupting this year's election process following Saturday's presidential runoff vote.

The second round election, much like the first round in April, proceeded without any major issues related to insurgent violence as millions of voters around the country were able to cast their ballots for the country's next president.

Bravant les menaces des talibans, des millions d'Afghans ont voté samedi au second tour de la présidentielle pour désigner le successeur de Hamid Karzaï, un scrutin dont la tenue même dans un climat d'instabilité persistante constitue un succès majeur pour le pays.

Afghans go to the polls for the second time in nearly three months to choose a new leader who will replace the long-serving President Hamid Karzai at a sensitive time when foreign forces are nearing exit.

Early Saturday morning both presidential candidates, Abdullah Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani-Ahmadzai, headed to the polls to cast their votes in the first second-round elections.

After Dr. Abdullah cast his ballot at Istiqlal High School in Kabul, he addressed the public and election officials asking the Afghan government and electoral commissions to perform their duties responsibly and effectively. He asserted that his team will not tolerate a fraudulent process.

Afghan refugees in Pakistan have spoken out to encourage their countrymen to vote in this year’s presidential runoff. Denied the right to participate themselves, the refugees also made appeals to the candidates for support in protecting their rights abroad and paving the way for repatriation. 

As Saturday’s runoff vote nears, Afghan election monitoring groups and the presidential candidates' teams have looked to expedite the certification process for the observers they hope to have overseeing the process. For international observers, however, the race for credentials has been a bit less busy, with fewer expected to participate in the runoff than did in the first round.  
 

On the last day of runoff campaigns, main team members of losing presidential candidate Qutbuddin Helal endorsed frontrunner candidate Abdullah Abdullah on Wednesday.

When Second Vice President of Qutbuddin Helal, Mohammad Ali Nabizada, announced his and the teams support for Dr. Abdullah, Helal later in the day announced his support for Ashraf Ghani-Ahmadzai.

“We, the ‘change and transformation team’ announce our support for Abdullah Abdullah,” Nabizada said. "About 99 percent of us agree with this decision."

Addressing a crowd of women in Kabul on Monday, presidential candidate Ashraf Ghani-Ahmadzai promised to address the many challenges facing women across the country and to form a more inclusive government, including the nomination of a female to the Afghan Supreme Court.