On April 5, 2014, a nine-person observation team, accredited by Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission (IEC) and composed of USIP national and international staff, travelled to 18 polling centers in the Nangarhar, Kunduz and Kabul (the outer districts) provinces to observe Afghan citizens casting ballots for the presidential and provincial council elections. 

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Voters line up at a polling station on Jalalabad Road, Kabul city, April 5 2014. Photo credit: Casey Garret Johnson/USIP

1. Overview

USIP's Vice President of South Central Asia Programs Andrew Wilder, Afghanistan Country Director Shahmahmood Miakhel, Program Officer Lillian Dang and The Liaison Office's (TLO) researcher, Lucile Martin travelled to the district of Shakardara outside of Kabul to observe voting at three polling centers. USIP Senior Program Officer Casey Johnson and a TLO research officer travelled to Khak-e Jabar, a rural district in eastern Kabul province about an hour's drive from the capital, to observe voting at four male polling stations. Three male USIP staff observed polling at 16 stations in Jalalabad City. One female national staff observed at three female stations in two polling centers located in Kunduz city.

2. Observation Areas

Shakardara is a rural, multi-ethnic district about an hour north of Kabul. Three accredited USIP international staff, and one TLO international researcher observed voting at 20 male and female polling stations at three polling centers: Shakardara High School; Dara-e- Shakardara; and Buyaza. The polling centers opened at 7:00am, 7:30am and 9:00am respectively. The reason given for the later opening of the Buyaza polling center was due to the wet weather preventing IEC staff from travelling to the center as well as many security checkposts en route. The observation team travelled to the Buyaza polling center around 1:30pm and had to cross still flooded 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 location of the latter two polling centers. Arriving around 11:10am at the Shakardara High School polling center, the team observed the following turnout figures: 592 men at two of four stations; 406 women at all three stations.  Arriving around 12:10pm at the Dara-e- Shakardara polling center, the team observed the following turnout figures: 702 men at all four stations; 94 women at all three stations. Arriving around 1:30pm at the Buyazar polling center, the team observed the following turnout figures: 996 men at all three stations; 25 women at the three stations.

Security: The team observed the presence of security personnel (police and National 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 observation 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 official questioned a member of the male observation team during the search procedure. The team did not  observe any checks on female individuals entering the compound. Male and female polling stations were located in separate parts of the compound. Security personnel were observed inside the compound, but not inside the polling stations. Female voters were not searched upon entering a polling station, which were in three separate rooms, all with external entrances. At Dara-e- Shakardara, the polling 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 patted down by hand. Female voters entered through a side entrance. IEC officials did make an effort of showing the female observation team the female search procedures, which included the use of a metal detector to check under the burkas of women. However, the female observation team had entered the main entrance to the building unchecked.

At Buyaza, there is a common entrance to the polling center compound, and separate entrances to the building for male and female voters. Male individuals were patted down upon entering, but the process was not systematically 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 patted down. However, the female observation 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 first polling center. There appeared to be a minimal presence of domestic observers as the team met only one female domestic observer and no male domestic observers at the three polling centers. At Shakardara High School, the male observation team identified approximately 10 candidate agents at the polling station, each representing the presidential 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 confirmed with the male observation team that they were happy with the process so far – one declaring emphatically that he was "one thousand percent happy!" The female observation team identified one female domestic observer from the Free and Fair Election Foundation of Afghanistan (FEFA) and one female provincial candidate agent, monitoring all three female polling stations. At Dara-e-Shakardara, the male observation team identified approximately 14 agents representing the presidential candidates Abdullah, Ghani, Sayyaf, Rassoul and Hilal, as well as provincial council candidates. At Buyaza, the male observation team identified more than 10 agents present at the male polling stations, representing the presidential candidates Abdullah, Ghani, Sayyaf and Rassoul, as well as provincial council candidates.

Impressions: Female voters interviewed said they were voting to elect a leader who will "end the war," "stop the attacks," and "improve the security situation." Others said they had turned up to vote "so that the youth can find work" and "children can go to school and receive a good education." A first-time female voter hoped that the election would bring more freedom for women, and opportunities to work outside the home. Most female voters had voted in the previous two presidential elections in 2004 and 2009, giving their vote at the time to President Karzai. One female voter voluntarily disclosed that she had given her vote to the presidential 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 observation team.

IEC officials remarked on the notable female turnout at the Dara-e-Shakardara polling center despite the distance women had to travel to reach it. IEC officials noted that the major challenges for women in turning out to vote included the distance and difficulty of travelling to polling centers, lack of awareness of the elections and the need to get permission from their husband and families. The female observation noted an incident in which a female voter at the Dara-e-Shakardara polling center had complained to an IEC official that she had been pressured by an IEC staff to change her vote from presidential candidate Rassoul to another presidential candidate. A lead IEC official 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 Officer 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 male polling stations (Khurd Kabul, Chenar, Kuz Malang and Shah Rasool). Three of the four stations were located inside mosques. Of the nine total polling centers (and 22 stations) in the Khak-e Jabar District, four opened late (one by 30 minutes,  one by an hour, and two by two hours), according to the head of FEFA for the province who was interviewed by the team at a polling station. FEFA had a total of 14 monitors (six female and eight male in the district). One polling station did not receive materials until the morning of the election, but still opened. The four male polling centers visited by the team reported receiving between 300 and 600 voters by 1:00pm, with higher turnouts earlier in the morning. Residents reported no intimidation by the Taliban this year, and there were no attacks on any of the polling sites as of 3:00pm, when the monitoring team left the district. Poor weather and long distances between polling stations may have hindered turnout slightly (especially among women), though most IEC officials, FEFA monitors and district residents we spoke with were happy about the level of turnout. The monitoring team saw a high number of candidate agents at each of the polling stations—particularly provincial council candidate agents. At one station, which had received around 300 votes by 2:00pm, 20 agents were present. Security at all stations was good, with the Afghan National Army (ANA) providing a wide perimeter, followed by a closer protection unit of the Afghan National Police (ANP) at the entrance of the polling stations to search voters.   However, the observation team was only searched upon entering two of four polling stations.

Nangarhar: Three IEC-accredited USIP national staff observed a total of 16 male polling stations at nine polling centers in Jalalabad City in Nangarhar province. The team returned to three centers to monitor counting, following the closure of the polls, which they found to be transparent and done in front of a large number of candidate agents and domestic observers. The following is a snapshot of four centers visited by the polling team.

At Afghan Mena secondary school polling center (three male, three female stations), observers noted a total of 60 registered candidate agents and one FEFA observer. Almost all of the candidate agents were representing provincial council candidates. At one point, a group of 16 women entered the female polling station chanting pro-Ghani slogans, but were quickly escorted out by female IEC workers. A total of 3,600 votes were cast at the center, according to the IEC. The observer team visited two male polling stations at the Chaknawri polling center, and again saw a large number of candidate agents – 77 of them -- almost all of whom represented provincial council candidates. There was a high level of campaigning beyond the perimeter of the polling center—both by Abdullah Abdullah supporters and provincial council candidates, some with non- uniformed armed guards (see photo). The observer team returned to the center for the vote count; the IEC recorded a total of 1,200 votes cast in the two male stations, with the following breakdown of the top candidates: Ashraf Ghani, 957; Abdullah Abdullah, 92; Zalmai Rassoul, 56. The observer team next went to the Abdul Wakil high school to observe four male stations. Here they witnessed one provincial council candidate campaigning inside the polling center (see photo). One of the stations at the Abdul Wakil center had run through its 600 allotted ballots by 10:55am, with approximately 600 more voters lined up outside. These voters were shifted to another voting station inside the Abdul Wakil center without incident. The observer team witnessed a greater number of buses used to transport voters to this center than at other centers.

The team visited five male polling stations at Bibi Aesha high school and found less political activity in the vicinity of the polling station and a greater number of candidate agents (approximately 60 agents at this site) as opposed to the Abdul Wakil center. The team returned to this site to monitor counting; IEC workers recorded a total of 3,000 votes cast.

Outside of Jalalabad City, the observation team relied upon a network of contacts, some of whom USIP worked with to implement legal training programs and set up interviews with IEC officials. According to these sources: The IEC closed polling centers after 9:00am in the following districts due to security threats: Chaprahar, Nazyan, Pacher Agam, Bati Kot, Goshta, Shinwari, Hesarak, Kot, Sherzad, Momandara and Haska Mena. One polling station in the Kama district and one in the Behsud district were shut down due to reports of fraud. The observation team was told that Meshrano Jirga Speaker Fazal Hadi Muslimyar, along with Afghan Special forces in the Chaprahar district, moved all ballot boxes in selected areas1 to the house of MP Amir Jan Dawlatzai and were stuffed in favor of Sayyaf.

Kunduz: One female USIP national staff member observed voting at three female polling stations at two polling centers in Kunduz City. One center was located at the Department of Agriculture and Irrigation (in the Ghahvakan area) and had one male and one female station. The area was clearly marked and there was no evidence of campaigning inside the center or in the vicinity of the center. Polling opened at 7:30am and closed at 2:30pm due to a shortage of ballots. There was also a shortage of materials during the day, with one woman reporting that she was not able to cast her ballot due to absence of markers. At about 9:00am, about 250-300 men and about 100 women were waiting in line to get in to their stations. Security at this site was tense. At one point a man wearing a patu ran toward an ANA officer, who shouted for him to stop, and only at the last second, did the man stop and open his patu and say that he was "just kidding." The female body check was not appropriate, with women entering the station in large groups and three female body searchers checking only a fraction of these women. The USIP observer was not checked when she entered the station. Five observers from FEFA and TEFA were present, as were candidate agents for Abdullah and Ashraf Ghani. At the Hazarat Ali high school, two female polling stations were observed. Turnout was higher at this location.  Even though a bomb had detonated in Kunduz City during the morning, it did not seem to deter voter turnout at this site. More than 500 men and 300 women were waiting in line at this station. Female security procedures were notably better at this site with all women thoroughly checked before entering the polling station. Representatives from Abdullah Abdullah, Ashraf Ghani, and Zalmai Rassoul were all present at the site, along with an observer from FEFA.

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