AFGHANISTAN: Electoral observation effort gearing up

KABUL, 2 Sep 2005 (IRIN) - With a little over two weeks to historic parliamentary elections in Afghanistan, tens of thousands of observers are set to monitor the internationally-supported poll, the joint UN-Afghan electoral body announced this week.

According to Joint Electoral Management Body (JEMB), 2,200 independent observers and more than 30,000 political party and candidate agents have been accredited to scrutinise the Wolesi Jirga (lower house) and provincial council elections.

"Almost 34,000 national and international observers will provide a thorough oversight of the electoral process," the JEMB's Mohammad Nazari, said, adding that the electoral observation operation would continue until final election results were announced.

Around 12.4 million Afghans are eligible to vote on 18 September in two simultaneous elections for the 249-seat Wolesi Jirga contested by 2,777 candidates and in 34 separate provincial council elections contested by 3,025 hopefuls.

Observers are hopeful that the comprehensive electoral observation will reduce the chance of warlords and regional strongmen intimidating or coercing voters. Some candidates and voters have reportedly been threatened by armed groups.

"Every step of the polling and counting process will be open to the scrutiny of observers as well as political party and candidates' agents. Importantly, observers and agents will be able to follow convoys carrying ballot boxes to count centres, where they will be able to monitor ballot boxes 24 hours a day," JEMB chairman Basmillah Basmall said.

A total of 197 international observers have also been accredited to oversee the election, including representatives from the European Union (EU), the watchdog group Human Rights Watch (HRW) as well as members of the diplomatic community in the capital, Kabul. EU observers will deploy to 29 of Afghanistan's 34 provinces.

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