Skip to main content
Latest news
Thumbnail

Leaders Welcome The People’s Strong Will To Vote

Tens of thousands of people around Afghanistan made their way to polling stations from early Saturday morning to cast their vote in the long-awaited parliamentary elections - despite widespread security threats by insurgent groups that warned they would disrupt the election process.

The elections are currently underway in all provinces with the exception of Ghazni, due to security threats, and Kandahar. Elections in Kandahar were delayed for a week following the assassination of the provincial police chief Gen. Abdul Raziq on Thursday.

TOLOnews journalists around the country reported strong turnouts at polling stations – including women.

More than 2,500 candidates, including 400 women, are running for 249 seats in the Wolesi Jirga – the Lower House of Parliament. However, 804 candidates are from Kabul.

Casting his vote in a polling center in Kabul, Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani hailed the morale of candidates and Afghans in general who defied threats and mobilized behind the elections.

He said that over eight million eligible Afghans will use their constitutional rights to determine the future of the country by voting.

The president said he wants to thank the people for having made this possible.

“I just voted. And I thank the ANDSF, the IEC staff, and the great people of #Afghanistan made it possible to vote despite the risks involved. Today we proved together that we uphold democracy. With casting our ballots without fear, we honor the sacrifices of the fallen,” tweeted the president.

In addition, Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah expressed his gratitude to the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces who, he said, worked day and night to ensure the safety of the process.

“I thank the Afghan security forces who made this day happen. It is a great day in the political history of Afghanistan. I am confident this will help our political stability, I want to express condolences, pain, over the martyrdom of General Abdul Raziq, but the people of Afghanistan showed that they value the patriotic sons of this country,” said Abdullah.

On the people’s complaints about the irregularities in the voting process, he said: “There has been some shortcomings, because we are using new systems this time, but the commission is handling it, people are taking risks, but they are voting. The enemies of Afghanistan do not want a credible system here, but people are lining up to vote. This indicates that Afghans value in voting. We are proud of this nation. Our nation is rejecting the enemies by participating in elections.”

Officials from the Independent Election Commission (IEC) this week said they have issued over 200,000 accreditation cards to national and international observers and organizations, including the Afghan election watchdog organizations.

The Afghan election watchdogs – Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan (FEFA), Transparent Election Foundation of Afghanistan (TEFA) and Election Watch Afghanistan (EWA) – also said that almost 10,000 observers from these organizations will monitor the elections.

The Security Factor

The Taliban who has been waging the war against the Afghan government and its western partners have constantly said the group will disrupt the process. But, the Afghan security officials hit out over the threats and pledged that they will provide security to the process.

The Ministry of Interior Affairs said Saturday that over 50,000 security forces will be deployed to 5,100 polling centers across the country to maintain election security.

According to the IEC, at least 10 parliamentary election candidates have lost their lives since the beginning of the process in July.

The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) last week on Thursday said that it had registered 30 attacks against election candidates since the registration process started in July.

The candidates who lost their lives in insurgent attacks include Abdul Jabbar Qahraman from Helmand, Haji Hayatullah Hayat an influential candidate from Nangarhar, Awtar Singh Khalsa from Afghanistan’s Sikhs and Hindus minority, Mawlawi Mohammad Anwar Niazi from Parwan, Haji Jalaluddin Salehi from Kabul, Saleh Mohammad Achakzai from Helmand and Nasir Mubariz from Kandahar.

Elections Delayed In Kandahar

The IEC delayed voting for parliamentary elections in Afghanistan’s southern city for a week following the assassination of Kandahar police chief General Abdul Raziq.

Taliban insurgents on Friday once again tried to further interrupt the process by issuing a demand for Afghans to remain at home rather than head to the polls.

Fraud Fear

However, widespread allegations of fraud by Afghanistan’s mainstream political parties were reported since the process began in July, but the IEC and the Afghan government have been saying that all necessary measures have been taken to organize credible and legitimate polls.

Today’s elections will be held at 21,000 polling stations, 5,100 polling centers in 32 of 34 provinces.

This comes at a time that Afghanistan’s politics is still facing controversy following the electoral stalemate in the aftermath of 2014 presidential elections which finally led to the establishment of the National Unity Government (NUG) under President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah.

Afghanistan’s next presidential elections is due to take place in 2019.

Leaders Welcome The People’s Strong Will To Vote

President Ghani says over eight million eligible Afghans will use their constitutional right to determine the future of the country by voting today.

Thumbnail

Tens of thousands of people around Afghanistan made their way to polling stations from early Saturday morning to cast their vote in the long-awaited parliamentary elections - despite widespread security threats by insurgent groups that warned they would disrupt the election process.

The elections are currently underway in all provinces with the exception of Ghazni, due to security threats, and Kandahar. Elections in Kandahar were delayed for a week following the assassination of the provincial police chief Gen. Abdul Raziq on Thursday.

TOLOnews journalists around the country reported strong turnouts at polling stations – including women.

More than 2,500 candidates, including 400 women, are running for 249 seats in the Wolesi Jirga – the Lower House of Parliament. However, 804 candidates are from Kabul.

Casting his vote in a polling center in Kabul, Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani hailed the morale of candidates and Afghans in general who defied threats and mobilized behind the elections.

He said that over eight million eligible Afghans will use their constitutional rights to determine the future of the country by voting.

The president said he wants to thank the people for having made this possible.

“I just voted. And I thank the ANDSF, the IEC staff, and the great people of #Afghanistan made it possible to vote despite the risks involved. Today we proved together that we uphold democracy. With casting our ballots without fear, we honor the sacrifices of the fallen,” tweeted the president.

In addition, Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah expressed his gratitude to the Afghan National Defense and Security Forces who, he said, worked day and night to ensure the safety of the process.

“I thank the Afghan security forces who made this day happen. It is a great day in the political history of Afghanistan. I am confident this will help our political stability, I want to express condolences, pain, over the martyrdom of General Abdul Raziq, but the people of Afghanistan showed that they value the patriotic sons of this country,” said Abdullah.

On the people’s complaints about the irregularities in the voting process, he said: “There has been some shortcomings, because we are using new systems this time, but the commission is handling it, people are taking risks, but they are voting. The enemies of Afghanistan do not want a credible system here, but people are lining up to vote. This indicates that Afghans value in voting. We are proud of this nation. Our nation is rejecting the enemies by participating in elections.”

Officials from the Independent Election Commission (IEC) this week said they have issued over 200,000 accreditation cards to national and international observers and organizations, including the Afghan election watchdog organizations.

The Afghan election watchdogs – Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan (FEFA), Transparent Election Foundation of Afghanistan (TEFA) and Election Watch Afghanistan (EWA) – also said that almost 10,000 observers from these organizations will monitor the elections.

The Security Factor

The Taliban who has been waging the war against the Afghan government and its western partners have constantly said the group will disrupt the process. But, the Afghan security officials hit out over the threats and pledged that they will provide security to the process.

The Ministry of Interior Affairs said Saturday that over 50,000 security forces will be deployed to 5,100 polling centers across the country to maintain election security.

According to the IEC, at least 10 parliamentary election candidates have lost their lives since the beginning of the process in July.

The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC) last week on Thursday said that it had registered 30 attacks against election candidates since the registration process started in July.

The candidates who lost their lives in insurgent attacks include Abdul Jabbar Qahraman from Helmand, Haji Hayatullah Hayat an influential candidate from Nangarhar, Awtar Singh Khalsa from Afghanistan’s Sikhs and Hindus minority, Mawlawi Mohammad Anwar Niazi from Parwan, Haji Jalaluddin Salehi from Kabul, Saleh Mohammad Achakzai from Helmand and Nasir Mubariz from Kandahar.

Elections Delayed In Kandahar

The IEC delayed voting for parliamentary elections in Afghanistan’s southern city for a week following the assassination of Kandahar police chief General Abdul Raziq.

Taliban insurgents on Friday once again tried to further interrupt the process by issuing a demand for Afghans to remain at home rather than head to the polls.

Fraud Fear

However, widespread allegations of fraud by Afghanistan’s mainstream political parties were reported since the process began in July, but the IEC and the Afghan government have been saying that all necessary measures have been taken to organize credible and legitimate polls.

Today’s elections will be held at 21,000 polling stations, 5,100 polling centers in 32 of 34 provinces.

This comes at a time that Afghanistan’s politics is still facing controversy following the electoral stalemate in the aftermath of 2014 presidential elections which finally led to the establishment of the National Unity Government (NUG) under President Ashraf Ghani and Chief Executive Abdullah Abdullah.

Afghanistan’s next presidential elections is due to take place in 2019.

Share this post