JEMB National Spokesperson Sultan Ahmad Baheen

The Preliminary List of Candidates for the 2005 Wolesi Jirga and Provincial Council elections went on display Saturday June 4, marking the first day of a six-day Display and Challenge period.

Between June 4 and 9, individuals and organizations may challenge any candidate on the Preliminary List who does not meet the criteria for eligibility, according to the Electoral Law.

The Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) will consider all challenges and determine by July 2 whether candidates who are the subject of challenges should be provisionally disqualified.

Candidates who are provisionally disqualified may respond between July 2 and 7.
Their responses will be considered by the ECC before an exclusion becomes final.

After ECC decisions are incorporated, a Final Candidate List will be certified by the Joint Electoral Management Body on July 12.

We would like to remind candidates that through Article 35(d) of the Electoral Law and both the Code of Conduct and Candidate Declaration signed by all candidates, they are prohibited from participating in the electoral process if they have links to non-official military forces or armed groups.

The ECC has requested the Joint Secretariat of the Disarmament and Reintegration Commission – constituted by the Ministry of Defence, the Ministry of Interior, the National Security Directorate, the United Nations, and the International Military Forces – to ascertain whether there are links between any candidates and non-official military forces or armed groups.

The Joint Secretariat of the Disarmament and Reintegration Commission will inform the ECC by July 2 whether such candidates have complied through disarmament and severed their links with non-official military forces or armed groups, so that the ECC can adjudicate accordingly on this issue.

The Joint Secretariat of the Disarmament and Reintegration Commission has decided to provide to those candidates, who are willing to completely disarm and sever links with non-official military forces or armed groups, the necessary weapons collection facilities to do so before a final deadline of July 1.

Operational details of the criteria and modalities for the collection of weapons will be conveyed by the Joint Secretariat of the Disarmament and Reintegration Commission.

It is hoped that this process will lead to peace and stability in Afghanistan’s new democracy.

JEMBS Chief of Operations Richard Atwood

Ladies and Gentlemen:

The final verified list, after central cross-checking and incorporating some 20 withdrawals, shows 6,070 candidates in total on the preliminary list. for the wolesi jirga we have 2,884 candidates, including 342 women 68 of the wolesi jirga candidates are kuchis (nomads) including six kuchi women for the provincial councils we have 3,186 candidates including 240 women final cross-checkng showed that more than enough women in all provinces for both elections, with the only exceptions being three provinces where the number of women running for the provincial council is only slightly less than the number of seats reserved for women on the provincial council. Those provinces are Nangerhar, Uruzgan & Zabul, so in those three provinces only, a combined total of five provincial council seats will remain vacant. The preliminary lists of all candidates who nominated themselves are now on full public display. They are displayed in every provincial candidate nomination office, they are being uploaded onto our website, and a range of public places. In bamyan they are posted on noticeboards on school and university campuses, hospitals, bazaars & government offices in the kabul cn office, more than 300 people came in yesterday to view the lists – with quite a bit of mirth at the range of symbols displayed. In Herat 71 percent of provincial council candidates visited can offices on the first day of display to check the lists. some media are broadcasting the list, for example radio saydabad in wardak. in many provinces they are being displayed at the governor’s office. They’ve been issued to mullahs and shuras around the country. Some of our provincial offices have already been receiving formal challenges. these will be dealt with by the elcetion complaints commission.

Questions and Answers

Question: You have said several times that people can challenge and can complain against anyone who does not meet the criteria or does not have the eligibility to be a candidate or if they have any links with non official military forces. We have many candidates in the country who have links with non official military forces, can the Joint Secretariat take a decision regarding these people?

Answer: The Electoral Law states that anyone with links to non-official armed groups is prohibited from running as a candidate for both the Wolesi Jirga and Provincial Council elections.

The Joint Secretariat of the Disarmament and Reintegration will inform the Electoral Complaints Commission whether candidates on the preliminary list still have links to non-official armed groups.

Any candidate who still has arms or links to non-official armed groups as of July 1 will be recommended for exclusino by the Electoral Complaints Commission.

Question: If a candidate is taken off the list will their deposits be paid back to them?

Richard Atwood: If a candidate is removed from a list following a challenge the deposit is not refunded, if a candidate withdraws they get their deposit back, I should also add that a candidate get their deposit back if they win more than 2 % of the vote or win a seat.

Question:Was there a similar rule for Presidential Elections last year that a candidate should not have any links with non-official military forces?

Answer: Under the Electoral Law last year candidates for the Presidential Election were prohibited from running if they “have a non-official armed force or belong to a non-official armed force.”

JEMB National Spokesperson Sultan Ahmad Baheen: The presidential election was conducted according to the Electoral Law on that time and as you know there are some amendments in the new electoral law.

Question:What is the order of the names on the ballot papers based on?

Richard Atwood: The order of the names on ballot will be determined by lottery, and this will take place in all provincial offices and candidates can observe the lottery. We are just now establishing the modalities by which this will be done and as soon as we know them we will announce the modalities and the dates.

Question: In the last 3 years some of the people don’t have links with armed forces or military forces, they were hired by the government on high position and now they have nominated themselves as candidates. Now how can they can come and volunteer in order to submit their candidacy in a very short time?

JEMB National Spokesperson Sultan Ahmad Baheen: The final list of candidates will be announced on 21 Saratan (July 12).
Those who have nominated themselves as candidates so far are on the preliminary list which is available for people in provincial offices. Anyone who is not eligible or does not meet the criteria, any organization or individual can challenge their eligibility or their candidacy.

Question: As we experienced last year their were some challenges against some of the candidates that were received by the Commission, but the Commission didn’t adjudicate properly and the candidates still remained on the list. Will it be the same as last year or any change?

Richard Atwood: We do have a much more robust mechanism through the Electoral Complaints Commission. This was something that was unanimously recommended in some of the observers’ reports last year, which is the reason we have established the Electoral Complaints Commission as independent from JEMB. We are optimistic that we have sufficient mechanism to do with the electoral complaints.

Question: If someone complains or challenges a candidate, can they remain anonymous?

Richard Atwood: Yes a candidate can remain anonymous, complainants can remain anonymous, a challenger also can remain anonymous and a person which has complained does not have to know who has challenged his or her candidacy.

Question: With the problems in provinces are you confident you
can protect the identities of complainants and challengers?

Richard Atwood: Yes we are confident we can protect their identities.

Question: There are some people that have supported more than one candidate by giving their name and Voter Card information to several candidates. Is it investigated or not?

Richard Atwood: A candidate did not have to bring the actual registration cards of the supporters. They only had to bring the list of the supporters’ card numbers. On the basis of the Electoral Law a candidate for Wolesi Jirga needs 300 supporters registration card number’s and for Provincial Council the numbers of 200 registration cards. There is nothing mentioned on electoral law that a person cannot support more than one candidate.

Question: In some of the province we don’t have security and one of the candidate was murdered. What are the measures taken by JEMB to ensure their security?

Richard Atwood: The Government of Afghanistan is responsible for providing security in elections assisted by the International military forces. So it is the Afghan National Army who has the main responsibility. JEMB Secretariat security department liaises on a regular basis with both Afghan and International military forces.

Question: There are some candidates that have not been convicted of any crime, but they cannot even write their name. Is there any provision in the Electoral Law to prevent these people from joining the Parliament?

Richard Atwood: No there is not any article on this in the Electoral Law. It is the constitution that defines the makeup of the National Assembly.

Question: In case that there are no names of challengers and a candidate name is removed from the list, is there any other reason to prove to a candidate that they are out of the list?

Richard Atwood: Candidates will be informed if they are out of the list through display of a Provisional Exclusion List between 2nd and 7th of July. The Electoral Complaints Commission (ECC) will inform us which candidates have been taken out of the list. We will produce two lists, the first will be a provisional candidate list which shows which candidates are still on the list and the second will be a list of candidates that have been taken off the list. They will be given the reason for being taken off the list, but it is very important for candidates to visit our provincial office between the 2nd and 7th of July so that they can check if they are on the list or not. Any candidate that has been taken off will have the right to reply to the Electoral Complaint Commission during July 2 to 7.

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