Bill Gallery is senior program officer for our Kabul mission, and a spokesman. Here he provides an update on what DI’s team is seeing in Herat.

Herat, located in western Afghanistan in the province of the same name, is the main political and economic center of that region. It is the second largest city in the country, and supported President Karzai by a good margin in 2004, though not as much as some provinces in the south and east. The most prosperous city in Afghanistan, Herat is also generally seen as relatively safe and secure, though the recent uptick in violence has not left it unaffected. Earlier today, DI’s observers in Herat gave an update on what they are seeing in the city:

-Security remains a key concern here as elsewhere. In Guzara district, immediately south of the city, election officials plan to close 14 polling centers for Election Day.

-Women are actively involved in the campaign process. However, female candidates face intimidation and difficult campaign conditions outside the city. Most female candidates seem to not be campaigning in districts outside the city, and some have reportied intimidation and destruction of campaign materials.

-There is some confusion about the role of the Provincial Council in the government. According to the constitution and practice, the councils traditionally have little formal role or power beyond advising the executive branch. During the campaign, some PC candidates have been making promises beyond the PC’s authority. Unfortunately, with little actual authority there is not much that PC candidates can campaign on.

-Meetings with internally displaced persons (IDPs) suggest that they have had great difficulty getting National ID cards and as a result many were unable to register to vote.

Our observers in Paktika sent in the following report today:

Security

• Security environment: The Taliban has been sending ‘night letters’ warning people not to go anywhere near polling sites.  In the past three days there have been a few security incidents, including an explosion in Sharana where an insurgent was trying to assemble an IED which exploded and killed him.  No others were killed in the incident.  Officials asked the provincial governor to send out more ANA and ANP patrols to ensure security in Sharana.

Election Preparations

• In Bermal, local election officials report that they need additional materials because they expect high turnout.
• There are 132 District Field Coordinators.  Three of the DFCs are not yet in place but he expects that they will be by today and working tomorrow.  During the election period, one DFC has been killed.
• The election materials in Sharana, Marahan and Zeruk have not yet been deployed.
• Only 50 women poll workers have been identified to date.  Most sites will have a religious or tribal elder to preside over the female polling stations and all will be open in election day.
• The provincial governor held a shura with sub-governors on the security situation.  It is not clear whether the sub-governors held similar shuras with local district leadership.
• Officials spoke repeatedly of the importance of government engagement with citizens during and after the election process. In Bermal, voter registration was rather low until officials held a shura with local leaders to discuss the importance of voting.  Due to this engagement, registration numbers immediately increased.
• Communication is a major issue in the province.  The Taliban pressured local private cell phone providers to cut off service at 6:30pm every night.  Coalition forces have provided key election officials with satellite phones, but they are not always operational.
• As far as officials know, there are no FEFA or other domestic observers in Paktika.

Provincial Council

• There are 28 candidates for the provincial council for 9 seats.  Three are required to be filled by women.
• PC candidates are very concerned for their safety and many refuse to come to Paktika for fear that anti-government forces will cause them harm.  Some have reached out to the complaints commission with reports that their campaign posters are being torn down.  None have filed formal complaints with the commission.  One candidate considered wearing a burka for meetings in Sharana to disguise his identity.
• One Provincial Council candidate has been removed, based in illegal weapons charges.  No Provincial Council candidates have withdrawn.

As promised, here is the full transcript of AL Jazeera English interview given by DI Spokesman, Brian Katulis, yesterday, August 17, 2009:

(Transcript starts after beginning of interview)

Tell me a bit more about the actual monitoring process, there are afghans observers involved, and how difficult it will be to monitor and ensure that these elections and the final results when they’re announced are credible?

Well, it will be difficult particularly in the rural areas and more remote areas. Even today we don’t know how many actually election polling stations there will be. But I think the security in certain parts of the country place a severe constraints, and that’s issue number one, both for Afghan monitors and of course for international monitors. So we are deeply concerned  about the security situation, but at the same time, we’re encouraged that the candidates still continue the campaign, people seem to express some sort of enthusiasm to show up for the vote. But it does place constraints on the ability of monitors to go to remote areas particularly in the rural areas.

On the whole, are you happy with the way the election has been set up, and it’s obviously incredibly difficult, but on the whole, are you happy?

Well, look, this is the first time that the Afghan institutions were actually running this process. Remember in 2004 and 2005, it was a UN administered process with cooperation with the Afghans, and I think again, going back to the point, it’s not good to be a perfect process, but we’re encouraged by, if you look at a certain sanctions that has been issued to certain candidates that have violated campaign rules using government resources, and things like this. So there’s the system in place. Will it be perfect? I expect not. And the real test is whether the Afghan people see this as a legitimate result, and whether they see the results as a reflection of their will.

The thing is, have they got a vote in the first place and many may not, especially given the Taliban threat, especially in the south. What do you think about potential voter turn out?

Again, I think it’s too early to tell and it’s a few days before the election. There are concerns that we’re hearing from our monitors from different parts of the country, particularly in the south about the security concerns. But it’s still too early to tell, and you know, what we do expect is perhaps early on election day the turn out might be low. We’ve seen this in other countries where voters were trying to assess whether the environment is safe and secure. And you could very well see stronger turnout by midday and towards the end of the day.

Thanks, Brian we appreciate that. That’s Brian Katulis from Democracy International. Thanks very much indeed.