New Data on Parliamentary Candidates

To provide a bit more insight into the candidates for Afghanistan's lower house of parliament election--now only a week away--we've added more resources to the site.

We've updated the translated lists of candidates in our Resources section with a detailed analysis of candidates' party affiliations, gender, and percentage of candidates contesting each available seat in a province.

You can see the national-level aggregate figures and provincial breakdowns here, or download the information in a spreadsheet file.

What is most clear from the data is that almost all of the more than 2,500 candidates are contesting the election without party affiliation, a reflection of the fact that only five parties managed to secure the accreditation from the Independent Election Commission necessary to to appear on the ballot.

We'll be adding more details in the days ahead.