Consensus Recommendations for Electoral Reform

Consensus Recommendations

These 34 consensus recommendations, available for download in English, Dari, and Pashtu (pdfs), are a result of a comprehensive review and analysis of recommendations presented by a wide range of stakeholders to Afghanistan's election process. Since 2004, hundreds of individuals and organizations have recommended specific courses of action for reforming Afghanistan's electoral system.

These 34 recommendations have been identified as the major points of consensus among Afghan civil society organizations, international observer missions, assistance organizations, and independent election experts. The recommendations have been drawn from 437 unique recommendations presented by this broad group of stakeholders. All 437 recommendations are available in a separate document titled “Recommendations for Electoral Reform in Afghanistan” which is available for download (pdf).

These recommendations are not the independent positions of Democracy International. They are the result of a review of hundreds of documents and have been compiled from more than 50 source documents. They are inclusive of the opinions of a wide range of stakeholders and should form the basis for an all inclusive discussion of comprehensive electoral reform in Afghanistan.

Table of Contents:

1. The use of the SNTV system should be reconsidered.

2. Rationalize the electoral calendar.

3. The IEC and ECC should be vested with more sanctioning authority.

4. The Electoral Law should clarify the role the Provincial Council plays in Meshrano Jirga elections.

5. Appointment process for IEC commissioners should be consultative.

6. IEC must be more proactive in ensuring staff impartiality.

7. IEC must act more transparently.

8. IEC must develop a better recruiting program for marginalized populations.

9. The list of polling locations must be finalized early in the process.

10. Technical assistance to electoral institutions should be provided through different mechanisms.

11. Support women’s political participation. Increased assistance should be provided to female candidates and legislators.

12. Registration cards should have photos.

13. Conduct a national census and consider national ID cards.

14. The voter registry must be addressed.

15. Constituency delimitation must be prioritized.

16. Establish a broad-ranging, continuous civic education program.

17. The role of the media should be clarified and their independence ensured.

18. Sustained support should be provided to domestic monitoring organizations.

19. Candidate registration and eligibility should be more strict.

20. Additional support for political parties should be provided.

21. Overhaul the process for preventing candidates with links to IAGs.

22. Guidelines on the use of public resources in campaigning should be established.

23. Stronger campaign finance regulations should be adopted.

24. Develop a long-term electoral capacity development strategy.

25. Investigate the entry points of fraud.

26. Track and secure election materials more effectively.

27. Reassess where counting takes place.

28. Redesign the results forms.

29. IEC should establish clear procedures for investigation, quarantine, and annulment.

30. Constitute the ECC early and provide it with necessary funding.

31. The ECC should adopt more open complaints processes.

32. The ECC should be a permanent body and its authority and independence from the executive strengthened.

33. The authorities of each level of government should be clarified.

34. Strict consequences should exist for electoral offenses.

35. Source Documents

The key consensus recommendations for electoral reform in Afghanistan are as follows:

1.The use of the SNTV system should be reconsidered. 

There is broad agreement that the Single Non-Transferable Vote system impedes the development of political parties in Afghanistan and prevents fair and accurate representation of Afghanistan’s diverse population. A public consultation process should take place to solicit the opinions of relevant Afghan actors and international election experts to determine the best alternative system for Afghanistan. One alternative that has been presented is a mixed SNTV-proportional system.

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2.Rationalize the electoral calendar. 

The calendar by which Afghanistan holds elections must be rationalized. Under the current design, Afghanistan will need to hold elections nearly every year for the foreseeable future. This puts unnecessary strain on stakeholders to the election process and prevents proper legislative bodies from undertaking necessary changes to the election system. Some observers have proposed the adoption of a two-tiered election cycle with presidential and parliamentary elections in one tier and provincial council and municipal elections in another, staggered by two years.

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3. The IEC and ECC should be vested with more sanctioning authority.  

Both institutions should be further empowered to impose sanctions in a swift and immediate manner on those found guilty of electoral offenses, including public officials.

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4. The Electoral Law should clarify the role the Provincial Council plays in Meshrano Jirga elections. 

The law should clarify the IEC’s role in such elections, the quorum necessary for elections to take place, and the procedures for replacement of provincial council members elected to the Meshrano Jirga.

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5. Appointment process for IEC commissioners should be consultative.

Nearly all stakeholders agree that the process for appointment of IEC commissioners, including the chairman, should be changed to allow for a check on executive authority. Most agree the National Assembly should play a role, either by submitting the list of candidates to the president or by approving the president’s selections through the legislative process. Some argue that civil society should be responsible for presenting the list of potential commissioners.

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6. IEC must be more proactive in ensuring staff impartiality.

The IEC must establish a more sophisticated vetting process to ensure the political impartiality of its staff. Clear penalties should be established for abuse of power and safeguards, such as assigning staff to work in provinces away from their homes, should be put in place.

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7. IEC must act more transparently.

The IEC should immediately develop and implement a broad civic engagement strategy that builds public confidence in the election process. As part of this strategy the IEC should invite a broad group of stakeholders including members of civil society, candidates, and political parties to attend plenary sessions. 

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8. IEC must develop a better recruiting program for marginalized populations.

The IEC should develop systems to ensure the adequate recruitment of staff to serve marginalized populations, particularly in hard-to-reach areas. The IEC should seriously consider a partnership with civil society in this endeavor.

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9. The list of polling locations must be finalized early in the process.

Although the changing nature of the security environment may prevent a list of polling locations from being entirely static, the IEC and relevant security actors should strive to identify the final list of polling locations as early as feasible. Ample time should be provided to communicate the list of polling locations to observer organizations and civic educators, and any changes should be announced publicly and with proper explanation.

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10. Technical assistance to electoral institutions should be provided through different mechanisms.

Assistance to the IEC, ECC, and domestic observer groups should be managed through different mechanisms. By no means should the same advisors have overlapping responsibilities with different institutions. Advisors should be embedded with organizations, and the organizations should have a voice in the nature of the assistance they receive.

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11. Support women’s political participation.

Increased assistance should be provided to female candidates and legislators.Programs should also aim to increase female participation at all levels of the political process. Efforts should be made to educate male candidates and elected officials about the important role of women in the process.

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12. Registration cards should have photos.

To prevent proxy voting, particularly by men for women, registration cards should include photos for both men and women.

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13. Conduct a national census and consider national ID cards.

The international community and the government of Afghanistan should prioritize conducting a national census to create a civil registry. The use of national ID cards should be seriously considered.

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14. The voter registry must be addressed.

If the voter registry is to be used for elections in 2010 it must be updated and duplicates removed. A consultative process should be conducted with Afghan actors and international experts to assess Afghanistan’s voter registration needs and to present a strategy to solve this problem. The use of a civil registry as a foundation for a voter list should be considered.

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15.Constituency delimitation must be prioritized.

The MoI and the National Assembly should work in coordination with the Central Statistics Office to prioritize district, municipal, village, and local administrative-unit delimitation. Consideration should be given to creating electoral precincts.

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16. Establish a broad-ranging, continuous civic education program.

A civic education program should be developed and implemented that covers a broad range of civic responsibility topics and targets all Afghans. The program should be continuous and broadly supported and should specifically target the marginalized and hard to reach areas.

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17. The role of the media should be clarified and their independence ensured.

The law on mass media should be clarified to ensure reasonable access and to encourage a fair and balanced role for the media in the election process. The independence of outlets should be guaranteed, particularly of Radio Television Afghanistan. Further training should be provided to journalists and other outlets on the media’s role in a democracy.

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18. Sustained support should be provided to domestic monitoring organizations.

The international community should provide long-term sustained support to existing domestic monitoring organizations and additional CSOs. Technical assistance should focus on expanding their capacity to monitor other aspects of governance and to conduct effective advocacy campaigns.

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19. Candidate registration and eligibility should be more strict.

To prevent irrational numbers of candidates from contesting elections, the IEC should develop a more robust set of procedures to verify the legitimacy of candidate registration materials. Candidate registration should perhaps require the endorsement of more voters.

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20. Additional support for political parties should be provided.

The international community should increase its support for political party programs and consider incentives for parties that engage marginalized populations such as youth, women, and minority ethnic groups.

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21. Overhaul the process for preventing candidates with links to IAGs.

The IEC should not be responsible for determining links to Illegally Armed Groups. The IEC should determine candidate eligibility based on a list provided by another organization. Which organization is responsible for determining ties should be clarified. The international community should provide any intelligence that could improve the list.

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22. Guidelines on the use of public resources in campaigning should be established.

Access to public resources must be equitable and strict guidelines with clearly defined sanctions should be adopted. A transparent system should be developed and authorities should be more proactive in pursuing violators.

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23. Stronger campaign finance regulations should be adopted.

All candidates should be required to release public financial disclosures on personal assets as well as periodic reports on campaign fundraising.

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24. Develop a long-term electoral capacity development strategy.

The international community should work with the IEC and other electoral stakeholders to develop a long-term electoral capacity-development strategy. [Assistance to electoral institutions must be tailored to build self-reliance. International advisors should not be developing plans but assisting in their development.]

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25. Investigate the entry points of fraud.

A full investigation of fraud in the 2009 elections should be conducted in order to make recommendations to strengthen the process and develop detailed procedures for the detection and mitigation of fraud.

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26. Track and secure election materials more effectively.

More effort should be taken to secure the chain of custody of sensitive election materials including clear and binding procedures for tracking all election materials.

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27. Reassess where counting takes place.

The counting and reconciliation process should begin as soon as is practicable after the polls close. Given the security challenges that exist with a count at the polling-station level, serious consideration should be given to conducting the count at the provincial level. If counting is conducted at the provincial level, procedural plans must take into account access requirements for observers and candidate agents at the polling station and provincial

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28. Redesign the results forms.

The results forms should be assessed for improvements, such as including the number of entries on the list of voters at each polling station.

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29. IEC should establish clear procedures for investigation, quarantine, and annulment.

The IEC should establish specific criteria and transparent procedures for investigation, quarantine, and annulment. This process should be well publicized, and observers and candidate agents should make sure to fully understand it.

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30. Constitute the ECC early and provide it with necessary funding.

The ECC must be constituted early so as to provide it with the time necessary to build effective and transparent national and provincial-level complaints adjudication processes. It should receive all necessary funding.

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31. The ECC should adopt more open complaints processes.

The ECC should adopt more transparent investigation and adjudication procedures and properly educate observers and agents in their use.

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32. The ECC should be a permanent body and its authority and independence from the executive strengthened.

The ECC should be permanent and should be empowered to impose sanctions. Its independence from executive influence should be strengthened.

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33. The authorities of each level of government should be clarified.One institution should be the ultimate constitutional arbiter.

The authorities of each level of government should be clarified and checks and balances established. The role of the supreme court in the election process should be clarified.

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34. Strict consequences should exist for electoral offenses.

Strict consequences should be established for public officials found interfering in the election process and swift and immediate action should be taken. Any citizen implicated in fraud should be referred to and prosecuted in the judicial system swiftly.

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Source Documents

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2010-04-DI-Consensus Electoral Reform Recommendations-ENG.pdf

2010-04-DI-Consensus Electoral Reform Recommendations-ANNEX.pdf

2010-04-DI-Consensus Electoral Reform Recommendations-DARI.pdf

2010-04-DI-Consensus Electoral Reform Recommendations-PASHTU.pdf