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Afghanistan 2014: Election Observations 1. OVERVIEW On April 5, 2014, a nine-person observa on team, accredited by Afghanistan’s Independent Elec on Commission (IEC) and composed of USIP na onal and interna onal staff , travelled to 18 polling centers in the Nangarhar, Kunduz and Kabul (the outer districts) provinces to observe Afghan ci zens cas ng ballots for the presiden al and provincial council elec ons. USIP’s Vice President of South Central Asia Programs Andrew Wilder, Afghanistan Country Director USIP 2014 Afghan Elections International Observation Team, Kabul, Shahmahmood Miakhel, Program April 5 2014 (Rahmatullah Amiri). Offi cer Lillian Dang and The Liaison Offi ce’s (TLO) researcher, Lucile Mar n travelled to the district of Shakardara outside of Kabul to observe vo ng at three polling centers. USIP Senior Program Offi cer Casey Johnson and a TLO research offi cer travelled to Khak-e Jabar, a rural district in eastern Kabul province about an hour’s drive from the capital, to observe vo ng at four male polling sta ons. Three male USIP staff observed polling at 16 sta ons in Jalalabad City. One female na onal staff observed at three female sta ons in two polling centers located in Kunduz city. 2. OBSERVATION AREAS Shakardara is a rural, mul -ethnic district about an hour north of Kabul. Three accredited USIP interna onal staff , and one TLO interna onal researcher observed vo ng at 20 male and female polling sta ons at three polling centers: Shakardara High School; Dara-e- Shakardara; and Buyaza. The polling centers opened at 7:00am, 7:30am and 9:00am respec vely. The reason given for the later opening of the Buyaza polling center was due to the wet weather preven ng IEC staff from travelling to the center as well as many security checkposts en route. The observa on team travelled to the Buyaza polling center around 1:30pm and had to cross s ll fl ooded roadways to reach the center. Voter turnout: The team travelled to the Shakardara High School polling center in Shahi Mardan, which is a central market area of Shakardara district, about one hour north of Kabul city. The team also travelled to polling centers in the outlying areas of Shakardara district, Dara-e-Shakardara and Buyaza. The team found generally good turnout at all three polling centers of male voters. However, turnout in two of the female polling centers was very low, perhaps due to the wet weather and remote loca on of the la er two polling centers. Arriving around 11:10am at the Shakardara High School polling center, the team observed the following turnout fi gures: 592 men at two of four sta ons; 406 women at all three sta ons. Arriving around 12:10pm at the Dara-e- Shakardara polling center, the team A FEFA domestic observer at a polling station in Shakaradara, Kabul province, April 5, 2014 (Lillian Dang). observed the following turnout fi gures: 702 men at all four sta ons; 94 women at all three sta ons. Arriving around 1:30pm at the Buyazar polling center, the team observed the following turnout fi gures: 996 men at all three sta ons; 25 women at the three sta ons. Security: The team observed the presence of security personnel (police and Na onal Directorate of Security, or NDS) inside the compound of all three of the polling centers. However, security checks or body search procedures of individuals entering the polling center were ad hoc. The male observa on team was searched at the Shakardara High School and Buyaza polling centers. The female team was not searched at any of the polling centers, and observed ad hoc procedures at all three. At Shakardara High School, male and female voters entered the compound through a common entrance. Male individuals were searched upon entering the compound. A NDS offi cial ques oned a member of the male observa on team during the search procedure. The team did not observe any checks on female individuals entering the compound. Male and female polling sta ons were located in separate parts of the compound. Security personnel were observed inside the compound, but not inside the polling sta ons. Female voters were not searched upon entering a polling sta on, which were in three separate rooms, all with external entrances. At Dara-e- Shakardara, the polling Two women after voting at polling station in Shakardara, Kabul province, April 5, 2014 (Lillian Dang). center was a boy’s high school on top of a hill that did not have an external fence or wall. There was a separate entrance into the building for male and female voters. Male individuals entered through the front of the building and were pa ed down by Page 2 hand. Female voters entered through a side entrance. IEC offi cials did make an eff ort of showing the female observa on team the female search procedures, which included the use of a metal detector to check under the burkas of women. However, the female observa on team had entered the main entrance to the building unchecked. At Buyaza, there is a common entrance to the polling center compound, and A provincial council candidate’s agent displays his identifi cation at a separate entrances to the building polling station in Khak-e Jabar district, Kabul province, April 5, 2014 for male and female voters. Male (Casey Garret Johnson). individuals were pa ed down upon entering, but the process was not systema cally applied to all entering the building. The team observed a man carrying a tray of food and beverages into the building without any security check. At the female entrance, the team observed women being hand searched or pa ed down. However, the female observa on team was not at any point searched upon entering the building. Observers and candidate agents: The team observed the presence of many male candidate agents at all three of the polling centers, but only one female candidate agent at the fi rst polling center. There appeared to be a minimal presence of domes c observers as the team met only one female domes c observer and no male domes c observers at the three polling centers. At Shakardara High School, the male observa on team iden fi ed approximately 10 candidate agents at the polling sta on, each represen ng the presiden al candidates Abdullah Abdullah, ‎Ashraf Ghani Ahmadzai, Abdul Rassoul Sayyaf, Zalmai Rassoul and Qutbuddin Hilal. There was also a notable presence of provincial council candidates’ agents. The agents confi rmed with the male observa on team that they were happy with the process so far – one declaring empha cally that he was “one thousand percent happy!” The female observa on team iden fi ed one female domes c observer from the Free and Fair Elec on Founda on of Afghanistan (FEFA) and one female provincial candidate agent, monitoring all three female polling sta ons. At Dara-e-Shakardara, the male observa on team iden fi ed approximately 14 agents represen ng the presiden al candidates Abdullah, Ghani, Sayyaf, Rassoul and Hilal, as well as provincial council candidates. At Buyaza, the male observa on team iden fi ed more than 10 agents present at the male polling sta ons, represen ng the presiden al candidates Abdullah, Ghani, Sayyaf and Rassoul, as well as provincial council candidates. Impressions: Female voters interviewed said they were vo ng to elect a leader who will “end the war,” “stop the a acks,” and “improve the security situa on.” Others said they had turned up to vote “so that the youth can fi nd work” and “children can go to school and receive a good educa on.” A fi rst- Page 3 me female voter hoped that the elec on would bring more freedom for women, and opportuni es to work outside the home. Most female voters had voted in the previous two presiden al elec ons in 2004 and 2009, giving their vote at the me to President Karzai. One female voter voluntarily disclosed that she had given her vote to the presiden al candidate Abdullah Abdullah. Other female voters did not disclose who they had cast their ballot for and were not asked to do so by the female observa on team. USIP Afghanistan Country Director Shahmahmood Miakhel observing a polling station in Shakardara, April 5, 2014 IEC offi cials remarked on the notable female (Andrew Wilder). Voters line up at a polling station on Jalalabad Road, Kabul city, April 5 2014 (Casey Garret Johnson). turnout at the Dara-e-Shakardara polling center despite the distance women had to travel to reach it. IEC offi cials noted that the major challenges for women in turning out to vote included the distance and diffi culty of travelling to polling centers, lack of awareness of the elec ons and the need to get permission from their husband and families. The female observa on noted an incident in which a female voter at the Dara-e-Shakardara polling center had complained to an IEC offi cial that she had been pressured by an IEC staff to change her vote from presiden al candidate Rassoul to another presiden al candidate. A lead IEC offi cial gave a verbal warning to other IEC staff and told the female voters that they “should vote for the candidate of their choice.” Khak-e Jabar: USIP Senior Program Offi cer Casey Johnson travelled to Khak-e Jabar, a rural district about one hour east of Kabul, with a small team of TLO staff familiar with the area. The team observed four Page 4 (Clockwise from top) An IEC worker with voting rolls at the Chenar polling station in Khak-e Jabar district, Kabul province (Casey Garret Johnson); A female voter casts her ballot in Shakardara (Lillian Dang); A voter casts his ballots for the provincial council and presidential elections in Shakardara (Andrew Wilder); Most of the male polling stations in Khak-e Jabar were located inside mosques, at this station the IEC has marked off the polling area from where men pray in the background (Rahmatullah Amiri); A voter after walking about 3 km to cast a ballot in Khak-e Jabar (Casey Johnson); A voter has his fi nger inked before casting his ballot in Shakardara (Andrew Wilder).

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